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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25748434">All Eyes on Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Himbological/pseuds/Himbological'>Himbological</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal, Persona Series</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alpha Kitagawa Yusuke, Alpha Niijima Makoto, Alpha Okumura Haru, Alpha Sakamoto Ryuji, Alpha Takamaki Ann, Alpha Yoshizawa Kasumi, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Beta Sakura Futaba, Let Sakamoto Ryuji Say Fuck, Multi, Omega AkiRen, Omega Goro Akechi, Omega Kurusu Akira, Omega Verse, Polyamory, Polythieves (Persona 5), intersex female alpha, intersex omega, morgana and ryuji arent mean, morgana doesnt have an alignment</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:34:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,600</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25748434</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Himbological/pseuds/Himbological</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The judge folds his hands and looks down removing his bifocals. He sizes up both Sato-san and Akira before he begins to speak.</p><p>“Sato, I need you to make sure that your client understands the terms of his probation very well.” The judge closes his eyes and starts again, “He will be on probation for an entire year and is to record his time under probation about his rehabilitation. He will not cause trouble in public nor in school and will lead a respectable life for the next year. And last, but the most important rule that your client must abide by,” the judge pauses, “Mr. Kurusu must start a strict regimen of suppressants to hide his secondary sex due to the nature of Shujin only accepting Alphas and Betas among their students.”</p><p>[Am I rewriting P5R but way more detailed and omegaverse... yes]<br/>Tags will be added as chapters progress</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira, Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto/Okumura Haru/Sakamoto Ryuji/Sakura Futaba/Takamaki Ann, Kurusu Akira/Everyone, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Okumura Haru, Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji, Kurusu Akira/Sakura Futaba, Kurusu Akira/Takamaki Ann</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>145</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I didn't want to be one of those excessive taggers, but here we are. </p><p>So I haven't slept since yesterday to finish this chapter though I'm very happy with how this came out despite not writing for 8 years. I never thought I would come back to write anything after taking up art and it has been a nice change of pace.</p><p>I hope you guys enjoy this writing journey with me! All chapters will be at least 4k and I will try to update regularly every week!<br/>[Tags will continue to be added as the fic progresses]</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>             Akira was led into the courtroom to face his sentencing. But all he could focus on right now was how the heel of his shoes grazed and caught on the short carpet. Or how the collar of his suit had started to chafe due to the cold sweat that started to build up there. His nerves were on fire, everything seemed to make him jump, and his mind was running at two hundred percent. Nothing good was to come out of an omega in this position.</p><p> </p><p>             The man at the door to the courtroom gave him a dirty look but held open the door for him anyway. A basic respect that any traditionalist would show omegas but the disgust he could feel behind the action made his stomach flip. The strong air conditioning that gust out of the room sent a chill down his spine. He was most certain that Hell was cold. His lawyer pulled out the seat on the far-left of the room, the table sat in front of the judge's podium that loomed above the rest of the room and while sitting it felt like he were to be judged by a god himself.</p><p> </p><p>             Akira looked to the lawyer on his right as he shuffled through the papers in his briefcase. His layer, Sato-san, caught him making eye contact and stopped shuffling for a second and turned to him.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry Kurusu I’ll make sure that you get the least time served as I possibly can.” Sato-san gave him a grin. The beta was too cheerfully optimistic for his own good.</p><p> </p><p>             He went back to digging though his briefcase and looking through his notes. Akira closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair homing in on the buzz of the fluorescent light panels above them. He thought back to that night, the noise from the lights becoming those of lampposts after dark, and the cool air conditioning becoming the coolness of the late winter breeze. He woke up on one of the side streets home like he had since that night. He looked ahead and began walking.</p><p> </p><p>             He could hear the distant yelling of a woman ahead and a man’s gruff slurred speech trying to keep her quiet. Akira picked up his pace and eventually caught up to the voices he had heard. He stood back behind one of the walls belonging to the homes littering the street to assess the situation in front of him. The bald man, who looked to be in his mid to late forties, had a young brunette by her wrists and was shouting at her. His bright orange glasses made Akira feel sick.</p><p> </p><p>             Akira looked up to all the windows of the homes on the street as the shutters and blinds closed and lights went out. Everyone turned a blind eye to what was happening before them. It made Akira seethe with anger they were going to let this woman be violated and act if nothing happened. He shook the thoughts out of his head and came out from behind the wall to confront the man before him.</p><p> </p><p>“Leave her alone!” Akira felt his hands connect with the man’s chest before he realized what he had just done.</p><p>             The man fell to the floor and his brow connected with the street divider making a metallic click. The sound brought Akira out of his haze and truly became aware of the situation before him. He could now smell the strong scent of alcohol and angry alpha. The man’s neon orange glasses had fallen cracked on the pavement and Akira was enveloped in the smell of too much cologne mixed with copper, the alpha scent made him feel sick. But among the suffocating pheromones he picked up the very meek and soft scent of the omega behind him. She smelled like warm laundry straight out of the dryer and freshly cut grass. Akira could picture a very homey scene around her despite being disheveled and missing the top button from her blouse.</p><p> </p><p>             His attention from the woman was cut short as the man on the ground addressed him. Akira looked down at the bald alpha who had gained a sizable gash on his forehead from the metal divider.</p><p> </p><p>“You’ll regret this kid I’ll sue for assault!” the man brought his hand up to wipe away the blood reaching his eye.</p><p> </p><p>“You fell all by yourself you creep.” Akira scowled, clenching his fists tightly to the point his nails dug into his skin.</p><p> </p><p>             The alpha looked as he was about to speak then stopped and looked over Akira. Suddenly, Akira felt like he should cover himself but all he could do was cross his arms and break eye contact with the other set of narrowed eyes. A sickly grin came across the bald man’s face and Akira could feel his skin prickle.</p><p> </p><p>“What is it with you omega bitches and getting in my way? I will make sure that you get what’s coming to you.” the alpha reached for the cracked neon orange glasses and rested them on the bridge of his nose. He looked to the woman behind Akira, “What did you see here tonight?”</p><p> </p><p>“I— I saw this young man come up and start attacking you for no reason.” She stuttered as the alpha glared urging her to keep going with the story, “And was threatening to mug us.”</p><p> </p><p>             Akira could only hear ringing in his ears the shock was too much for him to the point his body was just shutting down. The next thing he remembers is being cuffed and stuffed into the back of the police car. One of the officers placed his hand on the side of Akira’s head and slammed it on the top edge of the car while pushing him into the back seat. He could not even gain his bearings before the door closed behind him. The last thing Akira was able to do before the car departed was to make eye contact with the woman one last time before she got in the black SUV on the arm of the drunk alpha.</p><p> </p><p>             The drive to the police station was silent besides the occasional call on the police radio. He was promptly put through all the paperwork and mug shots and thrown in the holding cell. He held onto the bars and started before another omega in the cell spoke up for him.</p><p> </p><p>“Kid if you’re looking to make a call don’t expect it until hours from now.”</p><p> </p><p>             Akira turned and looked at the other occupants of the cell. All of them were women. Omega women. He had been placed in an omega cell, of course he would not expect different, but all these women he could tell. They were all sex workers.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t look at us so shocked,” an older woman, maybe in her late thirties, laughed and clutched her fan, “when you live a life of being the bottom of the barrel might as well just make a living out of it. Not like many of us are well respected anyway.”</p><p> </p><p>             She made space on her bench and made a friendly gesture for him to sit. Akira looked back behind his shoulder into the rest of the precinct before meekly taking a seat next to the other omega. She wore a very low-cut red dress and too much makeup. Akira caught eye of bruises that were starting to form on her arms and thighs. She caught him looking at her and she lent him a tired smile.</p><p> </p><p>“It comes with the job,” she touched her fan to her lips, “so why are you in here kid must have pissed off someone pretty bad to land up in here. Plus, not every day you see a male omega either…”</p><p> </p><p>             Akira told the woman of his plight to where the other omegas started to listen in on their conversation. It was cut short with the officers letting him have his phone call. His parents of course were not at all pleased with what had become of their son in more ways than one. With his father an alpha and his mother a beta it was less than fortunate that their son was an omega, but now a delinquent. They had some very colorful things to say to him including that he should just rot in that cell. However, the police informed them that they needed to come pick him up since he was still a high school student.</p><p> </p><p>             Akira hung up the phone and sighed. An officer led him back to the cell and slowly rested a hand on the small of his back. Akira froze and avoided looking at the officer feeling a cold sweat starting to run down his back. He could hear the officers breath hitch and Akira sped up out of the touch to where he could see the cell. The officer quickly tried to match his pace behind him.</p><p> </p><p>“Even though you’re male all you omegas are just too damn beautiful.” thankfully the officer unlocked the shared cell and closed the gate behind him.</p><p> </p><p>             Akira did not realize he had been holding his breath the entire time and finally let his lungs relax. He could feel some tears well up in his eyes but wiped his face before any could fall. Everything would all just go downhill from this moment. Really, what separated him from any of the other omegas here? He felt like he was going to collapse.</p><p>“All rise for the honorable, Judge Watanabe.”</p><p> </p><p>             Akira was yanked out of his recollection and hurried to stand from his chair along with Sato-san. A man with salt and pepper hair made his way to the podium and took a seat and waved his hand. With that everyone in the courtroom sat back down the seats in the room all creaking just seconds off from one another. The judge looked to the empty table on the right than to Akira and his lawyer on the left.</p><p> </p><p>“Unfortunately, your accuser will not be here today Kurusu,” Judge Watanabe adjusted his bifocals, “However, your accuser is very forgiving and asked that you don’t serve time but instead are given probation. Since your private omega school has expelled you, we will be relocating you to Shujin Academy who has openly welcomed your attendance for rehabilitation purposes.”</p><p> </p><p>             Akira wants to gag at the thought that the bald alpha asked personally for a sentence for him. The judge takes another look at the forms on his desk and looks to Sato-san. The judge folds his hands and looks down removing his bifocals. He sizes up both Sato-san and Akira before he begins to speak.</p><p> </p><p>“Sato, I need you to make sure that your client understands the terms of his probation very well.” The judge closes his eyes and starts again, “He will be on probation for an entire year and is to record his time under probation about his rehabilitation. He will not cause trouble in public nor in school and will lead a respectable life for the next year. And last, but the most important rule that your client must abide by,” the judge pauses, “Mr. Kurusu must start a strict regimen of suppressants to hide his secondary sex due to the nature of Shujin only accepting Alphas and Betas among their students.”</p><p> </p><p>             Akira’s heart sank. He would need to hide his omega nature and be stuck around betas and alphas for an entire year. Akira did not dislike anyone for their sex, but you hear things, especially among an all omega school. There is more of a danger being an unmated omega around young driven alpha and betas. Akira gripped the edge of the table listening to the terms of the probation.</p><p> </p><p>“Mr. Kurusu,” the judge addresses Akira causing him to look up, “your safety in this position is still one of our concerns please keep on the regimen to prevent any problems at Shujin.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, your honor.” Akira nods and looks down at the table hearing the gavel adjourning the hearing.</p><p> </p><p>             He is led out of the courthouse along with his lawyer who stopped on the steps behind him. Akira had let himself fall to rest on the clean white stairs and put his head in his hands. Sato-san kneeled to Akira’s level and was quiet for a while. Akira did not need to hear anything right now, but Sato began anyway.</p><p> </p><p>“This could have been much worse you know; they could have sentenced you to do time in a juvenile facility.” Sato reeled back his cheery demeanor, “But I understand how you must feel with this outcome. It isn’t the safest for an omega nor will the relocation be easy. At least you will be able to get a fresh start away from here.”</p><p> </p><p>             Akira quietly listened to the beta’s words and tired to consider the pros of being away from all of this. No one would know him in Tokyo it is much bigger than Inaba where everyone knows everyone, he could easily blend into the crowd. His past and record would be kept secret and he would be rid of this in a year with his hands wiped clean. He wouldn’t have to be around his parents, in fact they wouldn’t even try to have contact with him at all, which felt like a weight lifted off his shoulders. He didn’t mind separating himself from them.</p><p> </p><p>             And the suppressants… pros: he would stop his heats all together which no one is a fan of them. It would give him some sense of normalcy at least. Cons: he would lose his sense of smell. Not all of it of course but he would lose the ability to smell other people which cut off a lot of unspoken communication ques. He would have a harder time interacting with people and making connections in society built off social connections.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll follow through with it,” Akira raised his head out of his hands and looked ahead, “plus if it just helps me forget everything that’s happened in the last month then it would have been worth it.”</p><p> </p><p>             Sato clasped his hands together in joy glad that they had come to a mutual agreement on the probation. He got up from his position on the steps and lent Akira a hand to stand back up. As they both walked, they went over the finer terms of the probation agreement as well as where he would be staying for the duration of the year in Tokyo. His parents gladly set that up for him knowing they could distance themselves from him. He’d be someone else’s problem for a while.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>April 9<sup>th</sup>, 20XX</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
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  </strong>
</p><p>            Akira didn’t have much to bring with him on the train other than a small bag filled with some of his things. The rest of his clothes had been mailed off a couple days before. Akira wasn’t aware of what awaited him when he arrived in Tokyo, so he decided to wear his new school uniform just in case. He had also added a pair of fashion glasses to complete his look. Apparently, there’s something about glasses and posture that make you look like an entirely different person and Akira was thankful for that.</p><p> </p><p>            The ride was long and tiring especially with Akira needing to take a few connecting trains to make it to Shibuya. Akira drifted off to sleep at some point and was woken by the glare of the sunrise coming through the train window amplified by his new frames. The train made an announcement for the Shibuya stop and thanked the riders for their patronage. Akira looked at his watch to check the time, it was about time to take his next suppressant. Thankfully, they had sent the medication in a normal prescription bottle and not as the normal birth control package. Of course, they wanted it to be as discreet as possible so no one would question him on the medication this way. He could just write it off as normal medication for a heart condition or whatever Akira wanted to make up at the time. He had gotten it in the mail a few days ago at his home and it was enough to last a month. They had sent it along with a notice that they would all be sent to his next residence in Tokyo from now on. They started the day after the sentencing, so he had been on them for over a week. The pills were a reddish-brown color and extremely small, able to sit on the tip of Akira’s finger, he had to make a mental note to be careful and not lose any of them due to their size. He needed to take them with water and be sure not to let them sit on the tongue too long due to the unbearably bitter taste. He grimaced with each he took. He overheard a couple of schoolgirls on the train talking something about a mental shutdown. He hadn’t heard anything like that before maybe it was just rumor in the area.</p><p> </p><p>            He clicked the bottle closed as the train came to a stop and he got up sliding his school bag over his shoulder. He made it down the stairs and into the busy streets of the Shibuya downtown he hadn’t seen in person until today. Akira became painfully aware of his lack of scent where normally he would be surrounded by an amalgamation of scents, but he could only smell the concrete, food from the many restaurants on the main streets and the distant smell of cigarette smoke. He checked his phone for the address of his residence in Yongen-Jaya and the directions to the connector train.</p><p> </p><p>            Akira heard his phone ping and it exited his directions instead opened a little icon with a red eye on a black background. He didn’t recognize or remember ever downloading anything that looked like this. Maybe it was malware that had made it onto his phone, Akira stopped to think about it for a second. As he stopped it was like the world around him copied and everything froze. No one made any movement and you could hear a pin drop in the massive crowd surrounding him. Akira made a quick turnaround observing the strange phenomena almost as if time had completely stopped. As he turned his eyes set on large blue flames at least fifty steps ahead of him. They were swallowing a large black form that seemed to be making eye contact with him. Akira could feel a chill run down his spine as he kept contact with whatever it was. There was a flash of light and everything around him started back up as if nothing had just happened.  He looked back to his phone screen where the icon was still reflected brightly on the screen. Akira dragged the bold icon down into the trashcan on his phone deleting whatever application it was. He made one last glance around observing the crowd who have since kept walking before continuing himself.</p><p> </p><p>            Akira was able to find the connector train to Yongen and ended up in a small backstreet coming out of the subway station. He passed some small secondhand shops, a bathhouse, and even a batting cage while he looked around for the address even stopping to ask for directions. He made it to a house on the far side of the backstreet where a delivery guy was having trouble. The delivery guy looked up at Akira who had made it to the gate.</p><p> </p><p>“If you’re looking for Sakura-san he’s probably at his café LeBlanc right about now.” The delivery guy adjusted his cap to see Akira better.</p><p> </p><p>“Thanks.” Akira brushed his hair out of his eyes as he turned around to head back toward the train station.</p><p> </p><p>            He found the quaint café hiding among plants and tucked into the wall with a small menu sign sitting outside the door. Akira took a deep breath before he opened the door and was met with a small chime from the bell attached on the inside. It didn’t take long to scan over the inside of the café it was small enough on the inside to do so quickly. There was a man in a pinstriped apron with slicked back hair and beard sitting on a stool reading the paper across from an elderly couple enjoying some coffee. The T.V. was reporting on a bus accident that happened earlier today and the elderly couple started discussing it obviously wanting the other gentleman to add into their conversation, but it fell on deaf ears. The man in the stool glanced at Akira over his glasses and picked his head up.</p><p> </p><p>“…Oh, right.” The man set the paper on the counter as he stood, “They did say that was today.”</p><p> </p><p>            The elderly couple got up and thanked the man and mentioned something about being thankful there were no cars before passing Akira out the door to the side street. The other man brushed off the statements and turned to Akira rubbing the back of his neck.</p><p> </p><p>“So, you’re Akira Kurusu?” the man looked him up and down obviously making a profile on him.</p><p> </p><p>“Please take care of me.” Akira made sure to put on his best puppy dog eyes. He had a strange sense of humor.</p><p> </p><p>“…Uh-huh.” The man sighed resisting the urge to roll his eyes, “I’m Sojiro Sakura. You’ll be in my custody over the next year. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you’re the one huh?”</p><p> </p><p>Of course, Akira tried to be upstanding before that night not much was in his favor socially. He didn’t want to make anymore trouble or stand out as much as it was already.</p><p> </p><p>“Have you been told? A customer of mine and your parents know each other and—” Sojiro paused for a second, “Well not that that matters… but I will let you know right now that I’ve been informed about your special conditions and that you’re on the appropriate suppressants. I hope I don’t have to interfere with that aspect of your probation… Follow me.”</p><p> </p><p>             Akira crossed his arms close to his body and looked away but followed Sojiro up the creaky wooden steps to what seemed to be the attic space. He could see the dust particles clearly due to the strong light pouring through the windows at the far end of the room. He could already feel them attaching to the static of his hair and glasses he could already tell this was going to be a problem. He took off his glasses to clean them on his turtleneck.</p><p> </p><p>“This is your room. I’ll at least give you sheets for your bed.” Sojiro turns around to catch Akira putting back on the glasses, “You look like you want to say something.”</p><p> </p><p>“It's… pretty cluttered.” Akira looked around at all the junk piled up wall to wall.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s up to you to clean up the rest. I’ll be leaving after closing each day, so you’ll be alone at night but don’t try anything stupid. I’ll throw you out if you cause trouble.” Sojiro leaned on his leg and twisted the hair to his beard in thought, “I got the gist of the situation. You protected an omega from some alpha forcing himself on her, he got injured, and sued you. Right?”</p><p> </p><p>            Akira nodded and of course Sojiro told him he should be staying out of adult business. Akira started to zone out on what Sojiro was going on about after that. He heard it all before he didn’t need to hear it again and injure his pride more than it already was. He tried to take his mind off it by thinking random thoughts about literally anything else. He thought about what the school might be like, minus the thought of the students of course. He wondered what the curriculum was right now and hoped he wasn’t too far behind on whatever it was. Akira almost didn’t catch Sojiro trying to get his attention. He seemed to be done with whatever spiel he was on.</p><p> </p><p>“If you behave your probation will be lifted.” Sojiro gave him a stern look searching for a response.</p><p> </p><p>“Probation…?” Akira decided to play a little dumb.</p><p> </p><p>“Really now… It’s the word that applies to you.” Sojiro seemed to get a bit tired from the response and it got some satisfaction out of Akira, “Your sentence lasts until next spring, right? That’s why you’ll be here for the coming year. Cause problems and you’ll go straight to juvie.”</p><p> </p><p>Yeah, Akira was definitely trying to avoid that outcome…</p><p> </p><p>“We’ll be going to Shujin tomorrow.” Sojiro continued.</p><p> </p><p>“Going where?” Akira twirled one of his curls between his fingers. He wondered how long he could take being an airheaded omega. Maybe he should make that his thing?</p><p> </p><p>“Shujin Academy—the school you’ll be attending.” Sojiro let out a breath through his nose, “We’ll introduce ourselves to the staff properly. You’re lucky there’s someplace that’ll take someone like you. What a waste of my Sunday…”</p><p> </p><p>Sojiro starts to make his way to the stairs before stopping, “Oh and your “luggage” arrived a little while ago. I brought it up for you.” Sojiro waved his hand and headed back to the café.</p><p> </p><p>            Akira sighed and looked around one last time before he decided to start cleaning. He cracked his knuckles and started digging through the piles for cleaning supplies. He was able to find a duster among the junk along with a mop and got to work on the dust covered room. He started cleaning up the shelves to make room for his things and placed some of the other unusable items on the shelf overhanging the café. He also decided to make the bed to the point he just wanted to climb right in. It had been a long trip and Akira didn’t even realize how tired he had become.</p><p> </p><p>“What the heck? I heard you making all kinds of noise, but I didn’t expect you to be cleaning up here.” Sojiro looked around shocked, “Actually it doesn’t look too bad. You omegas do have a knack for being organized though.”</p><p> </p><p>            Akira internally rolled his eyes that was a common omega remark and it definitely was not true he had seen some of the rooms of his omega classmates back in Inaba. But he was ok being considered neat there were worse things he could be called.</p><p> </p><p>“You should go to bed we need to be up early tomorrow.” Sojiro scratched his cheek, “I’m going to close up the shop and get out of here myself. Don’t stay up late and be getting yourself sick alright.”</p><p> </p><p>            And with that Sojiro left. Akira took it upon himself to get changed into some sweats and a long sleeve. As he changed, he thought back to what happened in the street that night. How the alpha looked at him… how the omega looked at him. He helped her and he couldn’t understand how she could still oppose him. He understood adults less and less every single day and their motives. Akira’s phone went off and he looked over at it sitting on his bed as he pulled his shirt over his head. The red icon had appeared back on his home screen causing Akira to furrow his brows. Didn’t he delete that earlier? He dragged the icon back down to the trash and put his phone in his pocket as he lied down in bed.</p><p> </p><p>            One year…</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm sorry for all the canon.<br/>But don't worry from now on it's going to be a lot more original after this, I promise. If my pace keeps on going i might update every 2-3 days! I have big plans, I hope you enjoy!</p>
<p>If you want to follow me for random updates or art that I'm probably going to draw for this you can follow me here:<br/>IG: @gory.ghostie.guts<br/>Twitter: @GoryGhostieGuts</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Akira didn’t catch the exact moment he fell asleep as thoughts wandered through his mind as they did on most nights. But tonight, it was different, a blue light shone from just behind his eyelids causing him the rouse from his sleep. His eyes opened to a high concrete ceiling full of cracks and in that moment a light droplet of water touched his cheek. Akira quickly sat up and franticly examined the mysterious room fearing he had been taken in the night, he did sleep in a café after all anyone could just break in. There was a toilet and sink next to the bed he was lying on and there was a barred door covered in chains at the other end of the room. Akira realized as he got up that his wrists were chained to one another, but the chain was long enough to let him do ordinary tasks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Akira stepped forward to the chained door to look out into the blue room ahead. He was tugged back by another chain on his ankle attached to a large iron ball. Did they even use such a thing anymore? Before he could finish his way to the gate two little girls convened on the other side. They were twins mirroring each other, they watched him for a second before turning to face straight toward the desk sitting in the middle of the room. Akira was able to make it to the gate and was met with the sight of a lanky man with a long nose and pointed ears sitting at the lone desk.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Trickster, Welcome to my Velvet Room.” The deep ominous voice that came out of the figure sent a chill down Akira’s spine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So, you’ve finally come to, inmate!” The twin with the side buns started but was continued by the opposing twin in braids, “The you in reality is currently fast asleep, you’re only experiencing this as a dream.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You’re in the presence of our master! Stand up straight!” The more irritable twin smacked the bars to the door causing the clang to echo through the room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Welcome, I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a “contract” may enter.” Akira was trying to absorb the abstract information being spoken to him and tried to grasp what little he could understand, “I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Akira brought his hand to his head in a feeble attempt to stop the headache forming just behind his eyes. The glowing fog and the constant sound of water droplets was making him feel sick. He could hear a haunting voice echo through the halls, it wasn’t clear where it was coming from. Everything going on just felt like it was going to make his head split. Nothing here was making any sense and though they said it was a dream it felt too solid to be so. Akira rested his head on the cool bars to help with the throbbing pain.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well.” The man called Igor remained expression frozen in a Cheshire grin, but his tone became more somber.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Akira looked up at the statement directly involving him. That could mean dozens of things especially now. The room was cold and damp but that wasn’t what caused his skin to prickle with goosebumps.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“LET ME OUT!” Akira cracked and grasped his bars at a failed attempt to open the cell door.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Know your place, Inmate! Who do you think you’re talking to!?” The irate twin once again smacked the bars this time emitting and electric shock forcing his hands off the metal.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Still this is a surprise...” Igor looks around the room as if this were also his first moment here, “The state of this room reflects the state of ones heart. To think a prison would appear. You truly are a prisoner of fate.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            <em>Prisoner of fate… That sounds about right.</em> Akira thought to himself and sighed his once again coming up to rest on the bars in front of him. That phrase seemed to make Akira’s position more real in more ways than one. He didn’t ask to be born, he didn’t ask to be an omega, he didn’t think that he’d be arrested that night for doing the right thing. Yet here he was resting in the “cell of his heart,” he was very aware of what he was supposed to be outside of this place. And there was nothing he could do other than sit still and pretty like he was meant to.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Are you kidding me?” Akira’s face contorted into something of confusion and anger, of course it wouldn’t get easier, but this is far from what he needed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Worry not. There is a means to avoid such a fate.” Igor chuckled at his reaction, “You must be “rehabilitated.” Rehabilitated toward freedom… That is your only means to avoid ruin… Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Akira looked up and hopeful at the statement. Challenge the distortion of the world, huh? Maybe he could do something different… maybe that night would have never happened if he made a difference. Maybe all those omegas wouldn’t have been locked up like they were. Maybe that cop…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Akira immediately stopped that train of thought. He could feel his lungs constricting and felt wet around his eyes. He didn’t want a life like this for anyone else. He could feel determination boiling at the pit of his stomach. No one else was making strides to help people like him they barely even took a glance back. If no one was going to help him then he had to help himself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’d rather avoid ruin.” Akira could feel the tears streak his cheeks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation.” Igor paused and the twins both turned back to face Akira, “Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline; to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like.” Caroline put her hand on her hip and twirled her baton.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators… That is if you remain obedient.” The more collected twin, Justine, addressed the more serious part of their relationship with him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion.” Igor interjected, “Now then, it seems the night is waning… it is almost time. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Igor thrummed his fingers against the desk, “We will surely meet again, eventually…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>An alarm in the prison went off over the loudspeaker. It was almost deafening, and Akira felt like he was going to pass out. The outside of his vision started going black before there was nothing. He was alone in a black abyss.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Akira sat up in bed quickly, hearing his phone alarm going off in his pocket. <em>What a strange dream.</em> He snatched his phone out of his pocket and ended the alarm before getting his bearings. The raven realized he had fallen asleep with his glasses still on, he probably had red marks around where he had slept on them. He took them off to clean them before getting dressed in his school uniform, Akira at least wanted to try to be as presentable as possible today for the meeting.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Looks like you’re up.” Sojiro came up the stairs as Akira sat on his bed putting on his shoes, “Well then, lets go introduce ourselves properly to the staff about your transfer. The school you’ll be attending is in the Aoyama district. It’ll take a while to get there by train. The transfers are a real hassle, too. I’ll drive you there, but just for today. Let’s go.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            With that Sojiro turned back on his heels down the stairs. Akira grabbed his shoulder bag before catching up with the older man out the door of the café and to the car parked by his house. Akira opened the door to the small car and sat in the passenger side to which Sojiro gave him a face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Sheesh… Men aren’t usually allowed in my passenger seat.” Sojiro scratched the back of his neck before starting up the car and heading out to the school.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            The morning air was chilled, and it was a bit overcast. Would it rain tomorrow? Akira wasn’t sure but he hadn’t heard the TV talk about it the other day either. Maybe he’d be lucky and not have to worry about it. They eventually pulled up to a side street and Sojiro stopped the car and proceeded to get out of the car. Akira, his mind catching up with him, followed suit and adjusted his blazer which had rolled up a bit after sitting. The school took up most of the street minus what looked like apartments right across from it and some vending machines.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Do me a favor and behave yourself, alright?” Sojiro said while walking up to the large gated building, “Don’t get me wrong—I don’t care what happens to you. Just don’t cause me any trouble.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            With that he followed Sojiro into the building. The entrance was fairly large, and he could see a nice courtyard through the window. An assistant was standing off to the side writing something on her clipboard before she looked up and saw the two of them standing at the entrance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh! Good you’re right on time. I’ll take you to principal Kobayakawa now.” The assistant led them through the maze of halls to the principal’s office, “Here it is him and your teacher are waiting inside for you.” She slid open the door and gestured for them to enter.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            They entered the room to a large man sitting behind the desk and a short woman with curly hair standing by his side talking about something he didn’t quite catch. It was most likely about himself but didn’t bother thinking about it more than that. They turned and greeted Sojiro and himself, albeit with a bit more bite, but a greeting, nonetheless. They started going over the terms of his enrollment and Akira checked out for a while since he had heard it all before. Akira closed his eyes and drifted into thought. He would have to take his suppressants after this since he didn’t get the chance to take it this morning. All of a sudden, he felt like holes were being burned into his head. He peaked open an eye and saw the woman staring pretty intensely at him and averted his look quickly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            The stare was uncomfortable to say the least, but it seemed like she had picked up on something no one else had. She couldn’t smell him, right? When he read through the effects of the pill it said that it would suppress his scent included. This is a moment in time where he wished he could smell; he would be able to know <em>some</em> inkling of what she was thinking. What’s causing this unbreaking glare from her? Akira decided to look back at her and when they locked eyes, she seemed to realize the had been staring and looked back to the desk where Sojiro was signing some paperwork for the principal.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“To reiterate, just so we’re clear, you will immediately be expelled if you cause any problems. In my opinion, you’re nothing but a liability, but we had out circumstances to consider…” Kobayakawa had a slight sneer on his face, “Whatever you might’ve gotten away with in your hometown… those days are over. If you are thrown out from our school, there will be no place for you to go. Keep that in mind.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            The principal turned to the woman on his left. She seemed to be in thought about something. Kobayakawa cleared his throat and her head snapped up to look at him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“This is the teacher in charge of your class.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m Sadayo Kawakami.” She placed a couple things on the edge of the desk toward him, “Here’s your student ID.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Akira caught sight of a brightly colored paper behind the leather-bound ID and reached for it. Before he could pick it up the teacher snatched it out from under the ID and put it back in her pocket. She had a light flush on her face but tried to brush it off as a simple mistake. Akira picked up the ID and looked at the picture of himself on it. He looked like the same person to himself, but this was his new identity for those who didn’t know him. He looked over the information on the card. His secondary sex was listed as beta. He was a bit shocked but of course he was playing a part no matter what it said on the card. He just had to go with it he couldn’t think about it too long.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office.” Kawakami tucked some hair behind her ear to get it out of her face, “And, if by chance you cause any problems, I won't be able to protect you at all… That <em>is</em> your promise, yes, Principal Kobayakawa?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He is responsible for all his actions.” The man hummed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“But really, though, why me? There should’ve been better candidates.” She tilted her head away and started muttering under her breath, “At least he’s a beta…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It was a sudden transfer, and your class was the only one that had an opening.” The man retorted.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Akira stopped following the conversation for a second. Were they not aware that he was an omega? At the least Kawakami was not in the know. It would make sense that this part of his file would be absolved since it was a matter of his security. He started to play with his bangs again thinking about how he’d go about posing as a beta since he’d be a pretty feminine looking one to say the least.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“If you’re done explaining things, mind if we get going?” Sojiro pointed back to the door getting a little bit impatient with things having gone off topic, “I got a store to get back to.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Sakura-san, please keep a close eye on him.” The principal had become stern, “Don’t let him cause any trouble outside.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sojiro rubbed the back of his neck dismissing the principal just a bit, “Well, I’ll be sure to have a serious talk with him about the situation he’s in.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kawakami rested her hand on his shoulder to stop him, “Be sure to come to the faculty office when you arrive at school tomorrow. I’ll show you to your classroom.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Akira nodded and turned back out the door to where Sojiro had been waiting for him further down the hall. Sojiro started walking now that he was being followed. Akira stayed silent as they exited the building. Sojiro pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his jacket and slipped one out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Everyone’s giving you the cold shoulder. That’s what having a criminal record does to you.” He put the cigarette in his mouth but didn’t bother to light it, “Turns out your past follows you wherever you go. By the way… if you get expelled now, I won’t hesitate to kick you out. Got it?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I think I can scrape by…” Akira didn’t want to look at Sojiro right now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I could save us all a little time and just kick you out now if that’s gonna be your attitude. School never changes, huh.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sojiro and Akira kept walking to the car but before they got in Sojiro stopped and spoke again, “Oh. And if you were wondering if anyone at the school knows about your omega status, they don’t. Uh, besides the principal. You don’t have to worry about anyone in the school having that information. They even made sure that you get a private physical exam when the time comes.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Akira’s mouth moved to say something for a second, but he held it in. Akira hadn’t even thought that far ahead to where things like that would be a problem. But it was a good thing now he didn’t have to worry about it. He opened the door to the car and got back into the passenger seat. He tried to think of anything else that would come up. Like changing for gym, he could probably change in a stall or wait until the room had cleared out. Akira was wondering if he was a little too much in his own head because he didn’t even realize that they were stuck in traffic.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sojiro groaned listening to the cars honk at one another, “Traffic's not moving at all… You’re taking the train starting tomorrow.” Sojiro took is eyes off the road for a second to look over at Akira, “…So how was it? The school, I mean. You think you can manage?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It seems fun.” Akira smiled being slightly sarcastic it was just too fun to not play the part.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Do you even understand your situation?” Sojiro had a pained look on his face and tipped up his fedora to get a better look at Akira, “Still, you were expelled once already. To think you’d re-enroll at a different one.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Akira kept smiling awhile Sojiro complained as it seemed to miff the older man, “What a troublesome kid I’ve taken in.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This caused Akira’s smile to falter, “Why did you take me in exactly?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I was asked to do it, and I just… happened to agree to it.” Sojiro got a bit defensive at the question which was unexpected, “I’ve already been paid for it too, after all.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            At that moment, the radio had come on talking about a major railway accident that had occurred causing delays all around. No wonder the traffic was awful. This would cause some problems getting on the train tomorrow too. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have too big of a problem getting to school. Yup, seemed like disaster was just attracted to him. That guy with the long nose in his dream was right about that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“There’s been a lot of those lately. In fact, there was a really sad one right before you got here.” Sojiro commented on the crash, “If I remember correctly, the girl that passed away was only fifteen. Her parents have gotta be just…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Sojiro trailed off and Akira didn’t blame him it was a bit morbid. The ride after that was quiet, they didn’t have much to say to each other they were really only there just to stand each other for the year. There was no need for them to know more than what was necessary. Akira wondered what Sojiro’s alignment was, it wasn’t important, but he was curious. He definitely wasn’t an omega, though there were too many things Sojiro did to make him unsure about one or the other. He decided to drop it for now opting to take his imagination somewhere else. The raven looked out the window watching the sunset turning the sky citrus while inching forward through the traffic. There was something he heard before about everyone being able to look up at the same sky and it connect everyone in the world, even people you’ve never even met. That meant that everyone you’d ever meet shared that in common. You would always be connected by some sort of unspoken appreciation for it or another day. Akira thought that it was some kind of romanticization of life. But it was simple, and he could appreciate it for what it was.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            It took Akira and Sojiro longer than expected to make it back to the café. Sojiro unlocked the door causing the bell to chime inside as he pulled it open. The smell of coffee constantly wafting through the store as they walked in.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Damn, to think there’d be that much traffic… What a waste of time. I wasn’t able to open the café today.” Sojiro eyed Akira and he got the message adjusting his glasses giving him an apologetic look, “Whatever… Just head upstairs. There’s something I need to give to you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Sojiro handed him an empty black book. Akira looked through it for a second remembering something about him needing to keep a diary of his time on probation. He may be in his head a lot, but he could at least remember that as one of the terms.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Here’s a diary. Make sure you keep it up to date.” He adjusted his jacket getting ready to leave, “You may be under probation, but there’s no special limit on what you do in particular. Besides following the law, that is. But I’m obligated to report on you so make sure you log daily activities.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Sojiro’s phone started going off before he could leave the store. Whoever was on the phone asked if he was going to be home and Sojiro assured that he was leaving at the moment, “I’ll lock up the store, feel free to do as you like. Just don’t mess up my store or I’ll hand you right over to the cops. You better head to bed since you have school tomorrow.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Akira walked over to the side of the bed to the shelf where he had left his suppressant pills and popped open the bottle. Another little bitter pill to swallow in the most literal way. He picked up the diary afterward and decided to write about the meeting today with the school. After he wrote the small matter of fact entry, he decided to write something a little more personal.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>April 10, 20XX</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Today was the start of the third week of the suppressants. Since I’ve started, I lost my sense of smell, missed some social ques, and have felt more detached as days go on. It feels good to not be myself but at the same time I started to question who “me” really was. Am I living for other people in the background? I don’t have any hobbies, didn’t have many friends, and have lived a shadow of a life at home. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>But now the reason I feel even more so is because I don’t have anything to relate to other people. I can’t share how I feel with them and they cant share how they feel with me. The unspoken language that the dynamics share with each other I’ve since realized is more important to me than I realized. I don’t know if it’s because I’m an omega or this would happen to anyone on this nasty pill. They should really consider making them not taste disgusting.</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <em>All I can hope for right now is that tomorrow is a better day.</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>Akira quickly closed and put down the book and pencil. He sat back in bed and stared at the book before taking off his glasses and lying them beside the small book. He lazily got changed and went back to lie down. He had school in the morning, and he needed to get some rest before it got too late. He heard a ringing coming from the café before he was able to climb back onto the bed and decided to go investigate. It had been the retro bright yellow phone that sat on the bar.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hello?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hey, it's me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m sorry the café is past closing.” Akira said playfully messing with Sojiro.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Sheesh, you are a piece of work, it’s Sakura if you already forgot.” He could hear the older man sigh on the other end of the line, “Anyway… I closed up shop but forgot to flip the sign to “Closed” when I left. Do you mind doing it for me?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Why did you call me on the public phone?” Akira twirled the cord in his fingers while asking the question.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s a personal policy of mine not to save a guy’s number in my phone.” Another thing that made Akira question Sojiro’s alignment, “Either way, I’m glad you actually picked up. Anyway, I’ll leave the shop sign to you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Akira heard the click of the other phone on the receiver. He hung up the phone and made sure to walk over to the sign and flip it around before he went back upstairs. He sat on the bed looking up the train schedule to get to Shujin in the morning. He needed to go through Shibuya to get to the right transfer line. A bunch of notices were listed about the crash and its effects to the train schedule. Akira noticed the glowing app had welcomed itself back on his home screen. He thought he erased it before and dragged it once again to the trash. He decided to reboot his phone to prevent it coming back. Akira yawned and put down his phone and turning over on the mattress closing his eyes and letting the silence drown out his thoughts until he was asleep.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry this took so long! I participated in Pegoryu week and have been writing this and next chapter since!</p>
<p>This is going to be a double update so expect another chapter in a little while!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>      Akira made sure to get up early this morning so he would have some give in case he did get lost on the way to school this morning, also accounting for the train crash yesterday. He packed his bag with his books and some things to take notes in case he needed to. He looked to the pill bottle sitting on the shelf and decided to pack it as well. Maybe he should ty taking them at lunch, so he didn’t have to deal with the taste. Akira came down the stairs and was met by Sojiro. There was a plate of curry sitting on the bar in front of him. It looked like he had just finished preparing it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sojiro’s expression changed to a slight surprise once he saw Akira descend the stairs, “So, you’re planning on going to school today? Here at least eat before you go.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Curry…?” Akira didn’t expect such an odd dish of choice. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s a special recipe. If you’re going to complain I can take it back.” Sojiro crossed his arms in response. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“N-no, thank you it looks great.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira sat on one of the stools in front of the plate and started eating the breakfast. It tasted better than he would have ever thought coming from Sojiro. The taste was so defined yet complex he finished the plate a lot faster than expected. Maybe Sojiro was hiding a lot more about himself than Akira originally believed. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I should get going.” Akira took a glance at the wall clock, “Thank you, Sojiro, it was delicious.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The older man let out a chuckle, “Manners? Interesting. Well, don’t cause any trouble today and be sure to actually get to school.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      That was Akira’s signal to leave. He grabbed his bag and stepped out into the chilled morning air and made his way to the train station, which lucky for him, was only a few feet from the café. He looked at the timetable overhead trying to determine how long it would take to make it to the school. If he were lucky and didn’t get lost, he’d be there a bit early which would be great. The next train took about fifteen minutes to arrive at the station, but it didn’t put a gigantic dent in his schedule, so Akira was thankful. He crammed into the train car which was pretty much shoulder to shoulder with people even if he did take his bag off. He had never had this problem back in Inaba maybe that was one good thing about living in the country. The small LCD screens on the train were reporting on the crash that had happened the day before. Seemed like the news about it wouldn’t stop anytime soon.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The intercom on the train alerted him to the stop in Shibuya was next. He was by the door so when it opened up into the station, he had no problem making it out in the flood of people. He made his way up the stairwell on his right and out the gate to cross train lines. Now was the hard part, finding the connector train. He didn’t have an opportunity to become familiar with where he needed to go the other day since Sojiro had driven him there the other day. The stairs led to an underground walkway full of kiosks and maps of the subway. A large crowd had gathered around the timetables to which connecting trains had been shut down due to the crash. Akira tried to peak over the crowd to get a better look at one of the maps, but it was useless from the back of the crowd, so he decided to just wing it and explore. He came across a large stairway that led outside after taking an escalator up to the surface. Akira had made it to the square, and he was relieved that now at least some things seemed familiar from when he had first arrived in Tokyo.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The Teikyu building was right across from the underground walkway which was convenient enough. There was a camera crew filming in the square about the crash as he walked by. They weren’t mentioning more than he already heard before, it seemed like a lot of information about the crash was still being held as confidential. The next line was easier to board and had become mostly Shujin students as they all wore the same uniform as himself. When he got off the train and jogged up the stairs, he could see that it had started raining just like he thought it might the other day. And to his unfortunate luck he didn’t bring an umbrella.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira ran partway through the rain to where he could see an awning shielding one section of the sidewalk. Once he got under his glasses started to fog up, so he took them off to wipe on his shirt which didn’t really help since he was nearly soaked from the rain. He heard a sound come from his phone and fished it out of his picket to investigate. His navigation app had opened, and the strange red eye had returned and looked like it was active, what it was supposed to lead him to he didn’t know. A girl quietly joined the space beside him to escape the rain and pulled off her wet hood revealing two strikingly large blonde pigtails. Akira hadn’t seen anyone who was naturally blonde before, mostly people who bleached their hair to stand out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      She looked over to him causing Akira to realize he had been staring at her, but she didn’t seem to mind returning a smile to him. She looked sweet and gentle, but Akira realized that she wore a Shujin uniform but had decided to add a sweatshirt under the usual blazer. She couldn’t have been like him since they were heading to the same place. She had since broken the gaze and looked up in the sky as to try and will the rain to stop at that moment. A white car pulled up in front of the two of them and the reflective window rolled down to a man in a tracksuit.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Good morning, you want me to give you a ride to school? You’re gonna be late.” The man was looking to the girl beside him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Um, sure, thank you.” She timidly approached the car and got into the passenger seat. Akira for some odd reason couldn’t take his eyes off her. Almost as there was some force trying to pull him along with her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Do you need a lift too? It looks like we’re going to the same place.” The man was looking to him now.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira didn’t want to be a bother and passively raised his hand to deny the ride. The girl had started to frown and rolled up the window breaking his view from the pair in the car. He felt something heavy at the pit of his stomach like maybe he shouldn’t have left her alone with that man. He watched the car drive away and kick up water back in his direction from some puddles, which he narrowly escaped. He heard footsteps running closer behind him and saw a boy stop just a few steps ahead of him almost like he was trying to catch up with the car. He had bright blonde hair unlike the girl it was obviously beached but not damaged to which Akira was impressed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Dammit, screw that pervy teacher!” The blonde mumbled to himself before noticing Akira behind him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Pervy teacher?” Akira tilted his head to the side at the remark.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What are you looking at? You one of Kamoshida’s lackeys or something?” The blonde took a couple steps closer to him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira’s mind went into overdrive, this guy was definitely an alpha. He couldn’t smell him, but he could read it all over his body language. His inner omega wanted to submit to the threat, but luckily the suppressants helped him push down that instinctual fear. Akira was hoping that hesitation wasn’t showing on his face when he returned the question.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Kamoshida? Who, the guy in the car?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The boy’s eyebrows raised in surprise then he seemed to look around to anyone to assure him that he wasn’t the crazy one for not knowing who he was talking about.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yeah? You know, Kamoshida, the grand pride of Shujin and his volleyball team.” The blonde clenched his jaw just at the muttering of the name, “Just who does he thing he is—the king of a castle? Don’t you agree?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“King of a castle? I have no idea what you’re talking about…” Was this guy ok? Whatever he had against Kamoshida had to be pretty big to just start ranting to a random stranger about it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No, I mean…” The boy crossed his arms and eyed him suspiciously, “…Wait you don’t know Kamoshida? Are you for real? You’re wearing a Shujin uniform though.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Time to put his skills to the test, “I think so…?” Akira put more emphasis on him trailing off than the comment itself.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You messin’ with me?” Ok, maybe Akira wasn’t as good as he thought after all. The boy took a look at the emblem pinned into the collar of the blazer, “You’re a second-year, huh? We’re in the same grade then.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The boy tapped his foot in thought and looked at him a little more closely. What was with all these inspections were they sure these pills really worked? He felt like every time he walked out of the café someone was watching him. God, this was so frustrating Akira didn’t think he’d ever felt so uptight in his life. How was he going to get through a year of this when it was only the first day?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You a transfer student?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Oh, thank god</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The boy let out a huff, “Then no wonder you don’t know him. The rain ain’t bad. Better hurry or we’ll be late.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The boy turned and nodded his head to follow him. As Akira took a step there was a piercing pain that ran right though the center of his skull. He wanted to write it off as a side effect of the suppressant but realized the other boy had experienced the same pain. The blonde groaned and made a face mumbling something about wishing he could go home before trudging forward.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira looked down at his phone then back at the boy, tucking his phone back into his pocket before taking a few quick steps to catch up. They turned into a thin alley to what Akira only assumed was a shortcut. There were plenty of large puddles but when he stepped over one near the end of the alleyway he felt as if he had walked through a thin sheet. He looked back to see nothing though he swore—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Wha—we didn’t come the wrong way though.” The boy had halted in front of a giant scarlet stoned castle. The plaque read Shujin Academy, so it had to be right, but it looked nothing like yesterday.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      There it was again. That sick feeling he got when he had that dream the other night. He only felt it for a split second before it was calmed by the scent of what he could imagine as candied orange slices and lemon rinds. The rich sugary citrus scent made his mouth water, but that didn’t make sense. Akira looked up from the slightly hunched over position he had taken to investigate the origin of the scent. There was nothing? Akira decided to inhale one more time before realizing it was coming from the other boy… <em>Wait. </em>He could smell him!? But the suppressants! Akira opened his bag to stare at the small orange bottle that sat at the top of his things.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      He looked back to the boy slowly from his peripheral vision. If he could smell him it might be working the other way around. But the blonde stayed looking ahead at the castle. He didn’t look like he had picked up on anything, so Akira decided to quietly zip his bag back up and look back up at the building too.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“This doesn’t make any sense. But I guess we have to go in and find out, huh?” the boy wiped his nose with his sleeve and hurriedly made his way to the towering double doors.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The inside of the building was no different from the outside there was no school only a large entranceway with a gaudy chandelier and a giant portrait at the top of the stairs. The man in the portrait was definitely the man he saw take the girl in the car except this version of him was painted like Adonis in a suit of armor. Akira scrunched up his nose at the thought of someone commissioning something like this of themselves, talk about narcissistic. The painting wasn’t bad, but the subject made him hum in discomfort. The other boy had stopped in the middle of the room and looked around at the surroundings, his scent had gone sour, he was anxious and confused.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Th-that’s weird… where’s the school?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Is this a school?” Akira doubted it but he just had to confirm that he wasn’t the only one seeing this.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It should be…” The blonde pulled out his phone and tapped around on it, “Outta service… This has gotta be some kind of joke?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Him and the boy shared a look at the sound of metallic footsteps approaching the hall. A broad suit of armor made his way up to the blonde. Its face mask like with no emotion almost like the old masks they would put on corpses Akira had heard about in history.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Geez, you freaked me out! Are you a student? That’s a wicked costume dude…” The boy scratched his head, “Though I don’t remember any school event.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Soon more suits of armor began to crowd around them, “What is this? You sure that this is a joke?” Akira’s attention darted between the armor and the other boy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“D-Dude this shit is real! Let’s get outta here, we gotta run.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Run?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira froze, he knew what he wanted his body to do but it was like being trapped in a stone prison. The blonde let out a gruff sigh before grabbing Akira by the arm and dragging him forward and down a hall. Akira came to his senses halfway down the hall while the suits of armor finally spoke telling them to halt. But he wasn’t focused on that. Akira had become hyper aware of the calloused hand that held onto his arm leading him through the castle. He realized at that moment he didn’t even know the other boy’s name, but he could smell him. The sweet oranges let him know that he was determined and protective. He was safe.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      They soon ran into another set of guards and immediately connected their shields with the blonde stopping both of them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Y-You’re gonna break my bones dammit…” And with that the boy passed out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira felt something hard and cold touch the back of his head before everything going black. There he was again in the darkness of his own mind. What was happening? Where were they? Was this the ruin the man in the blue room told him about? The silence of his mind was more deafening than anything else. Akira hated being in his own thoughts since he tended to overthink things way too much. But he guessed now was the perfect time to be overthinking things.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Hey? Can you hear me?” The familiar voice was soft and gentle.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira stirred in his sleep opening his eyes to some dark chocolate ones staring right back at him. The boy’s brows were furrowed in concern and there was a small split at his hairline where a scarlet line had nearly traveled into his eye. Akira sat up to look behind him and got an eyeful of chains and bars. Great another cell, just what he needed. Akira was sensing some sort of pattern he was sure that the gods were messing with him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Are you alright? They hit you pretty hard.” The boy raised his hand to Akira’s head which caused him to flinch. The boy quickly pulled his hand back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Akira touched the back of his head assessing the damage, his hand coming back slightly bloody, “Yeah, I’m fine. How about you? You’re bleeding.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What, this?” He wiped a smudge across his forehead, “I’ve had worse.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The boy ran to look out the cell door, “Hey! Let us outta here, I know someone’s out there!” After no response for a good five minutes he gave up and came back to the wooden bed that Akira had been resting on, “What’s going on? We on a movie set or something?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Do you really think that?” Akira lifted himself off of the wooden plank.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No, but it's better than having no answer…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Right as the boy made his weak guess there was a scream that echoed through the chamber. They both made their way back to the bars and looked out into the rest of the dungeon. The cries for help continued in the distance, but not much they could do about it being trapped themselves.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What the fuck was that?” They both backed away from the bars deeper into the cell, “C’mon lets find a way outta here.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The boys moved around and looked in the barrels littering the cell finding nothing they could use. Akira even tried pushing in some of the bricks in the walls hoping that just maybe one of them would activate a trapdoor. As out there as it sounded it was worth a try. While searching the clanging of metal nearing became apparent causing them to stop. The guards were coming back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Be glad your judgement has been decided upon.” The suit of armor spoke, “Your charge is unlawful entry and your sentence is death.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Say what?!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No ones allowed to do as they please in my castle.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      A man in a velveteen red robe littered with pink hearts came forward from behind the guards. It was the man he saw in the car this morning. Except this version looked different his eyes were gold and glowing and really seemed to believe he were some kind of king. He didn’t really think any of this when he saw him at first glance. He thought back to the girl who he gave a ride to this morning.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Huh… Is that you, Kamoshida.” The boy on his left was a bit dumbfounded.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Kamoshida, the guy you mentioned earlier?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The supposed teacher looked to the blonde and laughed, “And here I thought it was some petty thief not a rat like you Sakamoto.” Kamoshida shook his head, “Of course someone like you wouldn’t learn your lesson after the first time.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The first time? The man then turned to look him up and down slowly settling on his face. Akira could feel the familiar pit of his stomach when someone knew something they weren’t supposed to. The other boy took notice trying to hide it, badly, but appreciated the effort.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“And you brought a friend… cant so anything yourself huh, Sakamoto?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“This some kind of bad joke?” The blonde, Sakamoto, hit the bars to the cell in frustration.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Is that how you speak to your king?”  Kamoshida sneered, “You broke into my castle to insult me? The punishment is death! Ready him for the execution.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The guards unlocked the gate and started crowding into the cell backing Sakamoto into a corner. He began to rush the large forms knocking one down in the process.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I ain’t takin’ this lets go!” Sakamoto looked to him for support before another guard hit him in the stomach with the butt of his sword.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The boy cried out in pain and slowly fell to the ground. He had broken out into a sweat and wasn’t looking good at all. Akira tried to rush forward to help him, but the guards crossed their swords to prevent him from going any further. Sakamoto was able to weakly raise his head and make eye contact with him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Just go! Get outta here!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kamoshida snickered, “Running away? What a coward, some friend you are.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He ain’t my friend…” Sakamoto clenched his teeth while talking to the man, “Come on hurry up and go!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira didn’t know why, but it sent a pang to his chest. He didn’t know this boy though Akira would say that they had been through a lot in the short span of the morning. He didn’t want to leave him to be killed like this. His feet were planted solid in the ground even if he wanted to leave, he couldn’t. But his face probably didn’t look very confident.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What you scared? Don’t want to run away? Pathetic…” Kamoshida huffed, “I’ll focus on this execution.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Kamoshida began to punch and kick the blonde on the ground to the point where he started to spit up. Akira clenched his fists at his sides trying to think up something to help him. Kamoshida kicked him to the side but not before spitting on him as a final act of being above him. Sakamoto’s body was limp on the ground with no more energy to fight back anymore.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Come on, Sakamoto. What happened to all those empty words?” Kamoshida turned his back to the blonde, “I’m bored of this, finish him off.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      One of the guards stepped forward out of line raising his sword ready to bring it down on command.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Stop!” Akira felt the words come out of his mouth without a thought.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The older man turned to meet his gaze, “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you. But you should learn to hold your tongue! That look on your face isn’t very cute you should consider looking your best in front of a king.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>       Kamoshida lowered to be at his eye level and laughed. Kamoshida kicked him in the stomach sending him back into the wall and onto the floor. Akira was having trouble catching his breath after letting in several gasps. He rushed to get back up and stop the guard.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hold him there I’ll make sure to train that one properly after I deal with this sorry excuse.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The guards held him back by the shoulders. God, Akira felt useless he had a rush of déjà vu. He was tired of not being able to do anything to help people. He didn’t want to be just another useless omega, to prove everyone right. The scene around him felt like it had been moving in slow motion. Akira could see every perfect detail in front of him though he focused on the boy on the ground. His face was scrunched up in pain but adamantly focused on the blade looming above him. A voice came to the front of Akira’s mind.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“How sadly unjust this must feel to you. To have so much power and want inside but have nothing to display it. But fear not, if my voice has reached you there may be possibility open to you yet.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The soft female voice was replaced by a male, “Are you just going to sit there and watch this disgusting display?” The voice was dripping with antagonization, egging Akira on, “You’re going to let this boy die to save your own skin. Was your experience meaningless?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Never… I did what I needed to.” Akira said under his breath.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Garnering the attention of Kamoshida glancing back at him but quickly paying no mind. Sakamoto was raised off the ground by his collar by the armed knight. The sword glinting in what dim light there was within the cell. The blonde choking and gurgling from the pressure on his throat. Akira could feel the anger rising in his chest.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’ve received the true power of your resolve. I will grant you my power.” With that Akira felt an intense shock of pain run through his body.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira clenched his teeth preventing himself from screaming out. If the guards had not been holding him up, he would have been writhing on the ground. The voice in his head had almost become completely jumbled among the pain.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You have agreed to follow through with your justice even if it chains you to Hell itself.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kamoshida scowled, “Execute this rat.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That’s enough! You won’t touch him!” Akira’s voice echoed through the cell.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What the fuck did you say to me?” Kamoshida turned his full attention to him, “You really want to play that game with me you bitch?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The guard on Akira’s left slammed him in the head. Hard. He could hear his glasses crack on the ground from the force of his head whipping to the side. The sound of the other boy gasping for air calmed his heart. He was the new target and Akira could handle that. The guards raised their spears to his throat to prevent him from moving while the one wielding the sword was ready to bring it down on him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>       A gust of air suddenly concentrated itself around Akira making him force his eyes closed. When he opened them, a mask had stuck itself to his face causing him to panic slightly. Akira gripped the edges of the mask and tugged he could feel the skin at the edges start to peel. He ripped the rest of it off and felt the wetness around where it had been sitting. The guards and Kamoshida backed up in shock as cold flames started covering Akira. This was what was looking back at him the day he arrived in Tokyo.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Come Arsène!” The flames dispersed revealing a tall creature wearing a demonic mask who sent the guards and Kamoshida flying backward just by opening its wings.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Kamoshida gained back his balance and darted out of the cell before Akira could register what had just happened. The blonde pressed himself up against the stone wall trying to put a gap between him and Akira. He looked shocked but Akira then caught the scent of fear. He was afraid of him? Just as he began to come back to himself the guards stood and began to attack though he easily ended them with the help of the creature that appeared to him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      The guards turned to dust on the floor and it had gone silent. The blonde hadn’t broken his line of vision with Akira during the whole fight. The flames went out and the beastly form that shadowed him disappeared as quickly as it had come. Akira took a couple slow steps toward the boy on the ground and lent out his hand to help him back to his feet. Barely noticing that he had changed clothes in the short amount of time. The blonde reluctantly took his hand and stood.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What the hell are you doing?” Kamoshida trudged back toward Akira but didn’t make it far before Sakamoto knocked him to the ground.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Grab the keys!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira pushed the cell door closed while the blonde quickly fumbled with the ring locking the gate behind them. He shook the gate just for good measure and throwing the keys into the water below. They both let out a quick sigh before the boy turned his attention back to Akira.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What was that?! And what’s with the getup?” Just as Sakamoto mentioned it the flames came and went putting him back in his normal clothes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Maybe now is not the best time to stop.” Akira shot a look back to the cell.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You’re right lets scram.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      They both started on the only path that was accessible it seemed like everything they passed had become dilapidated. Even needing to crawl through a hole in a cell to which Sakamoto got stuck in. they managed to get to a safe spot and watched guards starting pour in towards the cell that held Kamoshida.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“They gotta be lookin’ for us, right?” the blonde peaked out from behind the large set of crates.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Well if they are, we shouldn’t stick around to find out.” Akira stood up and made his way up the stairs behind them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira glanced back and noticed Sakamoto was following him at a distance. The raven stopped and the blonde slowed on his approach. The air felt tense and Akira hated it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hey are you okay? Why’d you stop?” The blonde asked still keeping cool despite his scent giving away his obvious tension.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      Akira opened his mouth to speak but stopped this isn’t a good time to bring it up. Maybe when they get out of here if he ever speaks to him again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yeah, I’m fine. Its nothing let's get out of here first.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      They both made it to the next level running into the same scenery as before. This level was more crowded with prisoners either silent or groaning. This made Akira sick how could something like this happen? Nothing they could do right now for them though. So, they moved onward until they hit a dead end and the drawbridge they encountered was up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What the hell do we do now?” Sakamoto rubbed the back of his neck.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t know…” The raven was at a loss.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>      He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Did his glasses come back when he changed clothes? How much longer until they found a way out of here? Maybe there wasn’t a way out and they would be stuck in there forever. Well they found a way in so there had to be something.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hey! You Frizzy and Blondie over here!” Akira raised his head and looked over to the cell they stood next to where a small catlike figure stood waving at them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What the hell is that?” Sakamoto was taken aback by whatever it was standing in the cell.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Can you get me out of here? Look the key is right there!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“How do we know you won’t attack us? You look just as weird as the enemies in this castle.” The blonde took a squat to be at the creatures level.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Are you a cat?” Akira asked completely going off topic.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t think that’s remotely important right now…” The blonde looked at him flatly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m not a cat! Please, the guards will be coming soon. Hey, I’ll make you a deal if you let me out, I’ll help you get out of here.” The cat creature grabbed onto the bars pleading for its release.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t see a better idea. You better not be lying or ditch us or something.” Akira grabbed the key off of the wall and proceeded to stick it into the large lock that was sealing the cell.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I promise!” The creature trotted out of the cell once the door was open, “Thank you! I don’t think freedom has ever felt so good!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You better make good on your promise, monstercat.” Sakamoto stood back up eyeing the newly freed being.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Do NOT call me a cat! My name is Morgana.” The thing ran up to the drawbridge they had passed, “Hey frizzy I’m going to need some help here. Can you get the mouth on this statue for me?”</p>
<p>      Akira felt around the Kamoshida statue realizing the jaw could be pulled. With the press the bridge fell and allowed them to cross the river separating them and the exit. Morgana gave him a thumbs up and sprinted across the bridge with confidence seemingly ready to lead the boys out of the massive castle. Akira and the blonde shared a look before running after Morgana.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Within seconds of crossing the bridge they ran into another dead faced guard stopping them in their tracks. Sakamoto overcorrected, sneakers sliding and landing on the ground in attempt to stop. The blonde quickly crawl-kicked away from the enemy ahead. Morgana stayed ahead of both boys and took a defensive stance prepared to take on the guard.</p>
<p>“Hey, frizzy you can fight right? I could sense it from you when you came down the hall.” Morgana whipped his tail in question.</p>
<p>“Yeah at the very least, somewhat…” Akira nodded matching the others stance.</p>
<p>“Good, let’s do this! Come Zorro!”</p>
<p>            Morgana took on a pose like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon and blue flames surrounded his small figure. Another large being shadowed the cat one that looked to be from maybe a western. It waved around a rapier and pointed it out to the guard in attack. Akira took that as a hint that maybe he should follow along with the plan. Akira barely noticing he had changed back into the crime noir costume.</p>
<p>“You got one of those things too?” The blondes question went unanswered with focus on the attack.</p>
<p>With Akira’s first strike Morgana laughs, “I knew you were amateurs, try finding the enemy’s weak point and use it to your advantage!”</p>
<p>            With the advice they both were able to take down the beasts with ease. The blue flames returned him once again to his school uniform. Sakamoto was able to get to his feet and join them in their group.</p>
<p>“You have some true potential frizzy hair! Your persona is pretty exceptional.” Morgana bounced showing some excitement.</p>
<p>“What’s a persona? Those things that came to you guys?” The blonde said from behind Akira startling the raven for a quick second.</p>
<p>“Yeah, when you rip off the “mask” inside your heart you are able to summon a persona.” Morgana makes a move to stretch, “Though it seems this guy doesn’t have full control over his power of he’d retain the look we saw just now.”</p>
<p>“That crap doesn’t make any sense…” The boy quickly scratched at his scalp in confusion.</p>
<p>“Doesn’t look like you’d understand more than that blondie.” Morgana snickered.</p>
<p>“Would ya’ stop callin’ me that— My name is Ryuji!” The blonde shouted at the small figure.</p>
<p>            <em>Ryuji…</em> Akira smiled in thought. He was finally able to put a face to a name and the sweet citrus. Speaking of scent nothing in the castle smelled besides Ryuji he’d noticed. Not even Morgana though he was able to communicate with them like a normal person. Well he shouldn’t have been able to smell anything in the first place so if anything were weird was that he COULD smell Ryuji.</p>
<p>“There’s no time to explain any more than that anyway or we’ll be caught again. Let's be swift on our way out.” Morgana started forward once again leading them.</p>
<p>They all made their way to the next bridge but before Akira could pull the lever Sakamoto had stopped in front of one of the cells. He kneeled down to look at the occupant lying on the ground wearing a red and white tracksuit.</p>
<p>“Hey, wait up, we can't just leave these guys here. Plus, I’m sure I’ve seen them before…”</p>
<p>“We’re running on borrowed time we can barely save ourselves. We gotta go!” Morgana started pulling on the blonde’s blazer in hopes to get him to move.</p>
<p>“B-But they’ll be killed! Just like us!” Sakamoto stood to be out of the cats reach.</p>
<p>“It’s fine, I can explain later when we’re outta here!”</p>
<p>            The bridge began to lower without Akira’s interaction revealing once again another guard charging them once the bridge locked in place. Morgana and Akira rushed the large form together, taking it down to clear the path. The blonde looked back to the cell once more before following suit with the both of them. The staircase Morgana led them up to was the entranceway where they had first come in. They went to a darkened hallway just off of the entrance and walked into an empty room.</p>
<p>“We’re here! This is where you exit.” Morgana turned back and looked to the boys.</p>
<p>“This rooms empty how we supposed to get out from here?” Sakamoto squinted suspiciously at Morgana.</p>
<p>            Akira looked up and spotted the vent above the bookshelf. Of course, it would be stupid to go back through the front doors.</p>
<p>“Do you mean the vents?” Akira motioned his head upwards causing them all to look up.</p>
<p>“Looks like you catch on frizzy! Exactly, if you go through there, you’ll leave pretty much undetected.”</p>
<p>“Aw nice man!” Sakamoto laid a heavy hand on his back, “Lets see if we can get that grate off.”</p>
<p>The blonde was able to grip the top shelf and pull himself up to where he was able to reach the brass grate. He could feel cool air coming from inside, this had to be their route. He gripped the edges and pulled a bit too hard and was sent backwards with the grate landing on his back with a crash.</p>
<p>“Shit, do you think they heard that?” He looked up at Akira and Morgana from the floor.</p>
<p>“I’d be more surprised if they didn’t…” Akira played with the curl that rested in front of his face.</p>
<p>“Sh-shaddup…” Sakamoto rolled back onto his feet.</p>
<p>            Both boys climbed back up onto the bookshelf ready to make their way out. They looked down to Morgana who hadn’t followed them up to escape.</p>
<p>“You ain’t coming with?” The blonde questioned.</p>
<p>“Unfortunately, this is where I exit stage left. There’s still things I have to do here.” Morgana took a bow, “You both get out of here while you can!”</p>
<p>“You better not get caught again or we’ll have to come back and get you.” Akira teased.</p>
<p>“You wound me!” Morgana laughs, “You better be safe too.”</p>
<p>            Akira smiled at Morgana a list time and followed Sakamoto into the vent. The vent dropped off the first floor of the castle, so it was easy enough to get out of. Once both out they ran making their way down the narrow alley they had come from and back out to the other side of the street. The other street was as crowded as ever with no sign that anything strange had even happened in that moment. Both knelt over trying to catch their breath and calm themselves now being away from the castle.</p>
<p>“We made it right we’re not dead?” The blonde let out a groan as he knelt over shifting his weight to one leg.</p>
<p>“There’s people around so I think we’re safe at the least.” Akira stood straight and looked around again just to make sure.</p>
<p>            The phone in Akira’s pocket started to go off reporting to them that they had “returned to the real world” whatever that meant. The raven took a hard look at the mysterious icon though it wouldn’t give him any answers other than what it had just said. Sakamoto leaned over his shoulder to take a look at the phone screen with him.</p>
<p>“Return? What’s that supposed to mean? Just where did we go?” The blonde bit the inside of his cheek in thought.</p>
<p>            Akira’s skin prickled at his overwhelming scent now that the other boy was being so close. Akira thought maybe he had no sense of personal space. It seemed that as well being able to smell him was a permanent thing. Speaking of which, the raven took a testing smell of the air trying not to be too obvious. There wasn’t any other scent just the city and Sakamoto, Akira would have to put a pin in that for later adding onto the list of things that just kept making his life more difficult.</p>
<p>“What was with all that? The castle, Kamoshida, the cat? This doesn’t make any fuckin’ sense!” The blonde got increasingly louder peaking interest of some police nearby.</p>
<p>“Hey you two! Aren’t you Shujin students? You cutting classes?” The two men narrowed their eyed at the duo.</p>
<p>“No! We were on our way to school and ended up at some castle—” Sakamoto answered energetically with the police giving him a doubtful look.</p>
<p>Akira cut the boy off to speak to the officers, “I’m sorry he hasn’t gotten much sleep since he’s been cramming, he’s a bit tired. We just got a little lost and were late because of the subway accident.” Akira ran his hand through his hair to feign their lateness as an accident.</p>
<p>“Well you both should be getting to school now or we will personally have to report you.” The officer on the bike leaned back on the seat.</p>
<p>            Akira nodded and pushed his glassed up the bridge of his nose in response. He turned and started walking back toward the alley, but not before catching the blonde’s dumbfounded look. Akira made a small gesture for the other to follow him back from where they came. The could hear sneakers jog up behind him but kept his eyes forward until they were down the alley.</p>
<p>“Why didn’t you back me up?!” The blonde motioned to himself and back to the corner as they walked.</p>
<p>“Because you sound crazy and honestly that’s the last thing I need right now.” Akira stopped to look at the other boy, “Plus that wouldn’t have done us any favors, feel lucky we got away with the warning.”</p>
<p>“I mean… I guess.” Sakamoto sighed in defeat following Akira who had started walking again.</p>
<p>            When they made it to the end of the thin backway there was the school as clear as if it had been there the entire time. The boys shared a look of confusion before walking up to the gate of the school. An older man in a suit appeared at the top of the stairs peering down at them. Akira expected to get caught but not so soon.</p>
<p>“Ah, Sakamoto, I expected that it would be you but surprised you’re not alone…” The older man spoke flatly and crossed his arms, “We received a call from the police.”</p>
<p>“Tsk… that cop ratted us out after all.” The blonde said to him under his breath.</p>
<p>“Where have you been all this time?”</p>
<p>            Sakamoto looked to Akira about the answer. The raven shook his head as a sign to not go with the story.</p>
<p>“U-uh c-castle…” The blonde kicked at the ground.</p>
<p>            Akira brought his hand up to his face in disappointment. He was hoping a void would just come and swallow him up at this moment, so he didn’t have to deal with this. At least he wouldn’t be able to see the counselors face from the answer. He could just lie down and die right now and would be ok with it.</p>
<p>“I see you don’t intend on telling me the truth…” The counselor grimaced.</p>
<p>“A castle huh?” The version of Kamoshida Akira had seen in the car this morning walked to the edge of the steps to where the counselor stood, “You seem carefree Sakamoto what happened to the hardworking individual on the track team?”</p>
<p>            The blonde had gone silent causing Akira to look in his direction. That seemed to have hit a nerve with him since his jaw clenched and his sent went sour. Akira scrunched up his nose and thought the boy might explode right there and then with how red he was turning. He could hear him let out a low growl before speaking.</p>
<p>“Shut up, you’re the reason were late in the first place—” There was a lot of bite behind the blonde’s words.</p>
<p>“How dare you speak to Mr. Kamoshida that way! You don’t have a lot of support behind you and you’re on the verge of being expelled.”</p>
<p>“Its quite alright were both a bit to blame! I could have been more considerate toward him.” Kamoshida wore a tight smile and laughed.</p>
<p>            Akira felt sick just looking at the expression. He could see what Sakamoto meant; the backhandedness made him uncomfortable to say the least. Though it seemed there was a lot more going on behind the scenes between them.</p>
<p>The counselor nodded taking Kamoshida’s words to consideration, “That still doesn’t excuse you from being late you’re going to still have to come to my office.”</p>
<p>“…Fine…” The blonde looked down in defeat.</p>
<p>            Sakamoto followed the counselor into the building but not without sending a glance toward Kamoshida. Then it was quiet with just Akira and Kamoshida on opposite sides of the steps. This really was the same guy from inside the castle? He definitely wasn’t as flashy nor straightforward like the one they had seen before, but the comment toward Sakamoto tipped him off. There definitely was something wrong with this guy.</p>
<p>“By the way,” Kamoshida looked to Akira dropping the smile from before, “you’re that new transfer, Akira Kurusu, right? Have we met before?” Kamoshida’s eyes were wide in surprise having seen Akira as someone familiar.</p>
<p>“This morning you picked up a girl in your car.” Akira rested a hand on the back of his neck.</p>
<p>“Oh, at the station that’s right.” Kamoshida gave him a smile different from the one sent to Ryuji, “Well I’ll let this go for today, consider it a favor.”</p>
<p>            Almost like switching between people Kamoshida lowered his gaze and trapped Akira in a glare. He felt that uneasiness in the pit of his stomach return for a moment.</p>
<p>“I’m sure the principal told you not to cause trouble or you’ll be expelled.” Kamoshida turned just giving him a view of his back, “If you cause any kind of trouble, you’ll be hearing from me first…”</p>
<p>            Kamoshida left the raven at the steps to mull over the words given to him. Akira didn’t feel like he could move. If he took a step, he might collapse right there. He let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and took off his glasses to wipe his face in his sleeve. He still had to go in and find Ms. Kawakami after making her wait so long. Akira put his glasses back on then made his way to the office where he was told to wait the other day. The woman was hunched over a desk looking absolutely miserable. Of course, he was partially to blame for that.</p>
<p>            As he got closer though he realized that the woman was just sleeping. Ok maybe he didn’t feel so bad after all.</p>
<p>“Um, excuse me?” He said barely loud enough to rouse her from the napping state.</p>
<p>Startled she quickly sat up straight, “Kurusu!” She relaxed seeing the student and raised an eyebrow, “It's your first day and you arrive half a day late?”</p>
<p>“I apologize I got a bit lost on the way here…” Akira tried not to make direct eye contact with her in hopes that she’d let it pass.</p>
<p>“You were just here yesterday…” She makes a face looking back at the desk, “Though I guess trains were late today.” Kawakami made a humming noise and gathered up the papers she had been resting her head on the moment before, “I heard you were caught with that Sakamoto-kun.”</p>
<p>“Before or after the nap?” Akira tangled his fingers in his bangs.</p>
<p>Kawakami’s face reddened for a moment before speaking, “Don’t go and get smart with me you could get in serious trouble.” She sighed and turned her chair back toward him, “You shouldn’t get involved with him he’ll only cause you more trouble. He didn’t used to be like that when the track team was around though.”</p>
<p>            That’s the second time that they mentioned the blonde had been on the track team which surprised Akira. Sakamoto looked like he was an athlete or had been at some point, but he must have been pretty damn impressive to be remembered for it. Akira wondered why he stopped or if he did? It probably had something to do with his anger toward Kamoshida, he decided to make a mental note.</p>
<p>“Fifth period will be last today because of the accident. Break is almost over… Follow me and I’ll have you introduce yourself when class starts up again.” Kawakami led him down the hall past groups of students when the bell rang, “Oh, and please don’t mention anything about your situation the less information you give the better in fact.”</p>
<p>            Akira heard chatter from some of the groups and caught some peering eyes. They were talking about him in hushed voices. That obviously wasn’t good, Akira sighed so much for the new start. They were mentioning his lateness and his looks but nothing about it that was good. He suddenly felt nervous, even though he didn’t care about the talk, something about it triggered what, shame? Akira couldn’t put his finger on it.</p>
<p>“Settle down, I’d like to introduce our transfer student. He unfortunately didn’t feel well this morning, so he joined us a bit late today.” Kawakami motioned to the room and looked to Akira, “Please, say something to the class.”</p>
<p>“It’s nice to meet all of you.” Akira added a small bow for good measure. It was formal but at least it wouldn’t make him look worse.</p>
<p>“Thank you, Kurusu, you can sit over there in the seat that’s empty. Those around him could you please share your textbooks with him for today?” Kawakami placed her hands together and looked to him to sit down.</p>
<p>            As Akira headed to his seat the chattering started up again. He saw a girl lean back and ask someone behind her something he was able to catch.</p>
<p>“Do you think he really is a beta? He got arrested for assault right that sounds more like an alpha dispute.”</p>
<p>“Maybe he’s just a really hot headed beta? Though you’re right he’s kinda quiet…” The girl behind her leaned forward to whisper.</p>
<p>            Akira started to block out all the voices, so he was in complete silence in his own head. He looked over to the empty chair but the seat in front of him caught his attention first. There was the girl from this morning that had gotten in the car with Kamoshida. He stopped to look at her for a short minute.</p>
<p>“You’re the girl from this morning…” He stated absentmindedly.</p>
<p>            She looked at him quickly but made an effort to not make any kind of affirming action. In fact, she was ignoring him like he didn’t exist at all. Akira didn’t blame her he did let her leave alone with Kamoshida which hindsight was twenty-twenty. He didn’t push it any further and took his seat behind her.</p>
<p>“Do him and Takamaki know each other?”</p>
<p>“Is she cheating on him with Kamoshida?”</p>
<p>            The girl stiffened hearing the new whispers around the room. She leaned forward having her hair fall off her shoulders. Maybe Akira could apologize for saying anything at all later on if he ever got the chance. Maybe if Akira just kept quiet and looked nice, he wouldn’t cause any more problems.</p>
<p>            Kawakami mentions something about a volleyball rally that was in a couple days and began class though he hadn’t really paid much attention. He was glued to the back of the girl’s head which hadn’t moved very much since he arrived. When the final lesson ended Akira let the room clear out as much as it would before gathering his things. When he walked out into the hall, he swore that he saw the castle surroundings. He shook his head trying to get his vision back to focus.</p>
<p>“Hey are you alright?” Kawakami was peering out from the classroom door at him.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I’m alright just a little dizzy.” Akira adjusted his glasses as he looked back to her.</p>
<p>“The word has seemed to have gotten out about you. You should head home and not take any detours like this morning to avoid getting any more attention.” Kawakami took a look around before hushing her voice, “And about Sakamoto—”</p>
<p>            Before she could get another word out the blonde came jogging out of another room right toward them. Stopping short seeing Ms. Kawakami leaning out of the door.</p>
<p>“Speaking of, I heard that the police caught you cutting class today.” Kawakami directed at the other boy.</p>
<p>“That ain’t what happened…” Sakamoto scuffed his shoe on the floorboards.</p>
<p>“Also, you’ve gotten warned to dye your hair back to black…”</p>
<p>The blonde made no effort to hold back rolling his eyes and came up close enough to Akira to whisper, “Meet me on the roof.” And turned to make his way up the stairs.</p>
<p>“See you shouldn’t get involved with him. Get home safe.”</p>
<p>            Kawakami retreated back into the classroom with those final words. Akira paused for a moment looking up the stairwell after the blonde. He stuffed his hands into his pockets before making his way up the flights. Before he could make it up to the roof, he caught Kamoshida speaking to the principal. Not so good words about himself. Kamoshida was saying he tainted the schools image and he couldn’t be the only one giving the school a good reputation. He didn’t bother listening to anymore prompting to finish his ascent.</p>
<p>            The entranceway to the roof was surrounded by extra chairs and desks along with some random cleaning supplies. Upon closer inspection of the door there was a small note requesting that students do not access the rooftop area. Akira tried the handle which opened despite the sign. He opened the blue metal door to the blonde sitting the opposite way on a chair in front of a few tables set up.  He was looking out to the city seemingly lost in thought. His scent smooth and calm being carried by the light breeze.</p>
<p>“What’s with the sign?” Akira chuckled to grab the other boy’s attention.</p>
<p>Sakamoto looked back and beamed upon seeing the raven, “Hey, actually I have no idea I just so happen to stumble upon it… U-uh sorry for calling you up like this.” Sakamoto moved to sit right in the seat.</p>
<p>“It’s no problem. There’s not much waiting for me.” Akira took a seat on one of the tables by the blonde.</p>
<p>“Bet you already heard a ton about me huh? <em>Don’t get involved with Sakamoto</em>.” The blonde mocked.</p>
<p>“Yes, gotten the warnings… but not much about <em>you</em>. I mean besides that you have black hair.” Akira sent Sakamoto a sly smile causing him to blush.</p>
<p>“Yeah… But not the point!” The blonde shook his head and got back on topic, “I guess we have more in common than I thought. I heard you got a criminal record I’m pretty sure everyone’s heard it by now actually.”</p>
<p>“It wouldn’t do much good to deny it now. Yeah its true.” Akira crossed his ankles.</p>
<p>“What happened this morning wasn’t a dream was it? You remember all of it right?”</p>
<p>Akira nodded, “Yeah don’t worry you’re not going crazy.” The raven laughed.</p>
<p>“Well that doesn’t mean much no one would believe us. But you saved me from Kamoshida anyway, so thank you…” Sakamoto trailed off in his thanks.</p>
<p>“It was nothing really, I wouldn’t have left you there.” Akira rubbed the nape of his neck.</p>
<p>“They say things about him you know, Kamoshida.” The blonde looked down crossing his right leg over his other knee, “But no one dares say anythin’ since he’s a medalist and the school kisses the ground he walks on." He paused, "I wonder if we could go back to that castle…”</p>
<p>            They were both silent for a second looking out to the rest of the school. Seeing how late it was getting Akira remembered that he completely missed his opportunity to take his suppressants since they went into the castle. He guessed now was a good of a time as any he guessed. Akira rummaged the bag for the small orange bottle and managed to fish it out. The click of the cap caused Sakamoto to look over and watch him pop the little tablet. Akira let out a cough afterward since he had to take it dry.</p>
<p>“What are those for?” The blonde inquired as Akira slipped the bottle back into his bag.</p>
<p>“Oh, uh I have a heart condition…” Akira brought his leg up to his chest.</p>
<p>“I thought you said you weren’t gonna lie?” Sakamoto furrowed his brows at him.</p>
<p>“H-Huh? What do you mean?” Akira broke a light sweat at the accusation.</p>
<p>“Those are suppressant pills, right? You’re an omega… You’re really bad at lying I could smell how tense you were answering my question.”</p>
<p>            Akira was shocked he couldn’t bring himself to speak. All he could do was stare at the other boy wide eyed. So he was able to tell just like Akira had feared earlier. Sakamoto looked like he started to panic like he said something wrong.</p>
<p>“I-I’m sorry! Was it not appropriate to bring it up? I didn’t know if it was ok maybe I should have just not said anything! I-I’m just gonna go.” The blonde moved to get up but Akira, almost as if his body moved on its own, put his hands on Sakamoto’s chest to push him back into the chair.</p>
<p>“You can smell me? Also, how do you know about these pills?” Akira grilled the blonde for answers.</p>
<p>“Woah! Woah! Calm down I won’t tell anyone…” Sakamoto put his hands up in surrender and Akira’s shoulders relaxed, “U-um yes, I can, though I couldn’t at first when we met at least you didn’t smell the same. It wasn’t until we got to the castle, but I didn’t want to say anything.” The blonde let out a breath, “And my mom is an omega she takes suppressant pills, but they don’t come in a bottle like that, but they look exactly the same.”</p>
<p>“S-sorry... I can’t have anyone know.” Akira removed his hands from Sakamoto.</p>
<p>“I can see why, an omega in an all beta/alpha school isn’t a very good match.” The boy let out a nervous laugh.</p>
<p>“It’s hard to explain…” Akira crossed his arms.</p>
<p>“You don’t need to say anymore, but don’t worry I won’t go blabbin’ your secret to anyone these lips are sealed.” Sakamoto pretended to zip his lips and toss a key.</p>
<p>Akira laughed at the other boys action, “Thank you, it means a lot.”</p>
<p>“No problem, um but,” Sakamoto got a bit more serious but still upbeat, “I’d still like to hang out it seems like we got a lot in common. I’m sure we’d get on fine as ‘troublemakers.’ Oh! Um I’m Ryuji Sakamoto by the way. Sorry for not introducing myself sooner… I really should have led with that.”</p>
<p>“It’s fine I’m Akira— Akira Kurusu.” He let himself show a soft smile.</p>
<p>Ryuji chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, “Come talk to me when you can alright? Don’t go ignoring me. I’ll seeya around!” Ryuji gave him a small salute before making his way out the door.</p>
<p>Akira let out a small breath through his nose looking out at the sunset. This was gonna be okay.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Here she is! Ahhh I was very excited to write this part now we are no longer bare bones the fun begins now. <br/>Tags after this chapter will also start pouring in so be prepared!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I’m sorry this took so long! A lots been going on but I didn’t forget about this fic or all of you! I hope you enjoy the new chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By the time Akira made it back to LeBlanc the sun had gone down, and the sky had changed to a deep violet. He took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts before entering the café knowing that Sojiro was going to tear into him about missing his classes. The raven gripped the handle and opened the door with the bells alerting the occupants of the café to his arrival. Of course, Sojiro was already looking toward the door when he walked in and his expression was less than welcoming.</p>
<p>“I got a call from the school saying you missed almost the entire day of classes!” Sojiro snapped.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I’m sorry I don’t have any excuses for it…” Akira spoke but eyes locked on the tile floor beneath his feet.</p>
<p>“I told you before that if this keeps up, I will have no problem throwing you out of here.”</p>
<p>            At that moment Sojiro’s phone chimed and he picked it up to answer the call. His anger was put on hold to talk to the person on the other line. He promised he would be home right after dealing with his “part-timer” at the café. Sojiro hung up the phone after a couple minutes and turned his attention back to Akira.</p>
<p>“Be sure to lock up the place and flip the sign, I’m closing up now.” The older man pulled on his jacket and hat leaving the shop with the door nearly slammed on the way out.</p>
<p>            Akira made sure to close up the shop and turn out all the lights before heading upstairs. He set his bag on the shelf that was next to the stairs before getting changed for bed. He didn’t need any other problems by staying up late after being in hot water already. He made eye contact with the small black notebook and pen that sat on the shelf next to the bed. What would he even say about today? He would just sound insane if he actually wrote what happened today. Maybe he could get away with telling some truth?</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>April 11<sup>th</sup> 20XX</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <strike>I met someone today</strike>
  </em>
  <em> I made a friend. Ryuji Sakamoto, fellow “delinquent” and former track team member. He found out that I was an omega… but I don’t feel like I need to worry. He told me that he would keep my secret even go far enough to make me laugh. Though teachers told me he’s bad news, I think they might just not understand him.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I want to talk to him again.</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>            Akira closed the little notebook and set it back on the shelf. He rolled back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling focusing on the little particles of dust floating about the room. He put a hand to the back of his head to rub at where he had been hit earlier. He pulled his hand away suddenly to find the bump had almost completely disappeared. He now realized that Ryuji hadn’t come back with the blood on his face either. <em>What a strange place. </em>Akira shook his head at the thought before pulling up his blanket and drifting off to sleep.</p>
<p>            He once again woke up in the blue prison, the Velvet Room if he recalled. He stepped forward to the bars overlooking Igor and his lone desk. Akira was again startled by Caroline slamming her baton on the bars. Both twins demanding respect and attention to their master who had folded his hands under his chin.</p>
<p>“I see you’ve made use of the Metaverse Navigator and have awakened to your special power; we may finally begin rehabilitation…”</p>
<p>“I don’t understand what that means. What is that place?” Akira furrowed his brows in confusion.</p>
<p>“Everything will make sense in due time. You must train your power of persona to escape the cell of your fate, by honing the power of your inner mask you will be freed of the chains of society that bind you.” Igor let out a low chuckle, “My expectations for you are high and I’m sure I won’t be disappointed.”</p>
<p>            Akira let out a sigh through his nose. It did sound nice to have the power to chance the perception of those around him. Though he didn’t understand why or how that was going to happen maybe he should just follow along. He didn’t really have much choice after all. It seemed like completing the demands given to him here would bring an end to all of this.</p>
<p>“As for the Metaverse Navigator, I’m sure you will make good use of it to travel from reality to Palace. I am also willing to grant it to those you make bonds with in the future. Nothing great is ever accomplished by one alone.” The long nosed man closed his eyes in thought after he spoke.</p>
<p>“Palaces? What is that app?”</p>
<p>Caroline tapped the baton on the bars her loud voice making a slight echo, “The Metaverse Navigator is a gift from our master, be sure to use it and become a great thief, Inmate!”</p>
<p>“Don’t feel need to question it at the moment, dear Inmate, just know that all will reveal itself soon.” Justine played with the pages that sat on the clipboard in her hands.</p>
<p>            The alarm started to blare alerting the nights end. Akira began to blackout losing sight of the velvet room and the attendants. He woke up to light being filtered through the dirty window by his bedside and his phone alarm beeping to warn him of his impending schedule. The raven rolled out of bed and got dressed before heading downstairs while cleaning his glasses on the sleeve of his turtleneck.</p>
<p>“I hope you intend on actually attending class today…” Sojiro set a plate in front of him on the counter.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry about yesterday, after promising to not cause you trouble.” Akira didn’t want to bring his gaze up to meet the older man.</p>
<p>“Hmph, just eat quick and head out before customers start to arrive.” Sojiro turned to tend to the brewing coffee on the other side of the counter.</p>
<p>            The two didn’t speak much after besides Akira giving his thanks and Sakura giving a grunt in return. Akira made his way through the train lines smoothly with yesterday’s knowledge while listening to more people discussing the train accident up until waiting to board the train to school. The chatter of the other students piquing his interest. He really shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but Akira wasn’t very much a social butterfly to begin with, this was his special way of learning things without having to ask or be involved.</p>
<p>“Hey, isn’t that her?”</p>
<p>“The girl with the red ribbon?”</p>
<p>            The voices lowered to a whisper as the train was piled in. He ended up next to the girl they were talking about who just looked ahead while in her seat as if not fazing her at all. After a short while the announcement for Shujin came over the loudspeaker. The girl smiled and stood looking to the old woman ahead of her.</p>
<p>“Please, take my seat, my stop is coming up.” Akira swore that her smile was made of light.</p>
<p>“Why, thank you young lady!” The woman took a step forward before being taken over by a man who promptly sat in the offered bench.</p>
<p>            The three looked to each other and to the man who seemed to immediately fall asleep. The girl in red looked to Akira a bit shocked as if not knowing what to do.</p>
<p>“Do you want me to wake him up?” Akira motioned to the man in the seat.</p>
<p>“N-no its alright! I understand his own motive as well.” The girl shook her head a little too vigorously, “I’m sorry ma’am…” The redhead tried her best to manage a bow in the limited space.</p>
<p>“It’s alright dear.” The older woman directed a gentle smile back at her.</p>
<p>Akira could see the girl visibly sigh and look a bit downtrodden that she wasn’t able to complete her niceties. The train slowed and the intercom again sent out a gentle reminder. Once the doors opened it was probably harder to stay inside the train than to exit with the flood of teenagers. Akira was sure that he exited with the grace of someone with two left feet, mostly less of him walking more looking like being swept away by a strong river current. Akira hearing a small chuckle behind him probably from whatever performance that he had put on. He turned to see the redhead, who seemed to have no problem with the crowd, was the perpetrator of said laugh.</p>
<p>“I could charge for the show, huh?” Akira gave the girl a pitiful smile.</p>
<p>“A fortune, I think.” She added another small smile for good measure.</p>
<p>“Well, at least I’d be rich…” Akira made an overdramatic sigh, “Akira Kurusu.”</p>
<p>The girl takes a formal bow, “I’m Kasumi Yoshizawa, I wanted to thank you for speaking up on the train, senpai.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Senpai?” Akira twisted a strand from his bangs between his fingers.</p>
<p>The girl placed her finger on the button on the collar of his blazer and pushed back playfully trying to tip him off balance. Which she had achieved slightly.</p>
<p>“Yup, I’m pretty sure that my eyes aren’t fooling me.” She looks back up to Akira’s face, “It says you’re a second-year which means you’re my senpai, I’m a first year at Shujin myself.”</p>
<p>“I see.” Akira let out an airy laugh, “Well, it was no problem.”</p>
<p>“Still, I appreciate it and wanted to thank you properly before I missed my chance! I better get going before I’m late. I hope to see you again soon!” She waved and started her jog up the steps readying her umbrella for the rain.</p>
<p>Akira followed the crowd up and out to the surface street breaking off into the alleyway he had followed Ryuji into the other morning. The opening out to the school was as ordinary as it could have been. At least he wouldn’t have any trouble being late and having to worry about his already strained relationship with Sojiro. But the thoughts of the castle still lingered in his mind as he made it to his class before the bell had even rung. Akira was dragged out of his thoughts by having a question directed at him by Mr. Ushimaru, the social studies teacher. He fortunately was able to answer correctly causing the class to stir about him in more rumor.</p>
<p>During the lunch hour Akira heard more talk about the girl from the train this morning since the description seemed correct. All the comments were positive but seething with envy which in turn didn’t make them very good in the end. He could handle the rumors about himself, but she didn’t deserve all the backhandedness if she worked as hard as everyone was saying.</p>
<p>“She’s the perfect Alpha! She has good grades, is a champion athlete, and pretty! None of us can even hold a flame to her.” The girl by the student shop window, where Akira had opted for his lunch, was maybe a bit louder than she could realize herself.</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s not fair that she gets to have all three. Maybe we could catch her after school and give her a piece of our mind.” The other girl mentioned causing something in Akira’s body to move on it’s own.</p>
<p>He whipped around to look at the two girls who jolted at his sudden action. Akira glared at the pair just a bit too agitated to even think to speak but let out a growl low enough for only the two to hear. The girls shrunk back and turned to speed walk away from where he was not even glancing back in their retreat. Akira rolled out his shoulder returning to his previous posture seeing that they had backed down.</p>
<p>“Did you see that?! He totally just threatened those Alphas!”</p>
<p>“He’s out of his mind. We should stay away from him…”</p>
<p>“Is he Yoshizawa’s bodyguard or something?”</p>
<p>Akira didn’t stick around for the rest of the scene. He went back to the classroom to eat in some semblance of peace and finish the day as quickly as possible. Luckily, the rest of the school day went without a hitch with no other problems. As he turned out of the classroom to make his way to the stairwell, he stopped able to see Kamoshida coming out at the top of the steps. The girl who sat ahead of him had been stopped by the teacher.</p>
<p>“Hey Takamaki, you should be careful around here. There’s been a ton of accidents recently and not to mention the criminal in your class.” Akira huffed to himself at the comment he guessed today was gonna be that day.</p>
<p>“Sorry, I have a photo shoot today it’s a special and I can’t miss it… I don’t really have any time today.” She looked down at the floor avoiding as much contact as she could with Kamoshida.</p>
<p>Kamoshida frowned and put on a worried demeanor, “I know you’re a model Takamaki, but don’t work your pretty little self to the bone. Plus, didn’t you mention something about being sick with appendicitis?”</p>
<p>“Yes, I haven’t had time to go to the hospital I’ve just been so busy.” She flipped her pigtail to her back glancing momentarily to Kamoshida.</p>
<p>“It must be lonely. I feel bad keeping your friend at practice so often.”</p>
<p>Akira gaged to himself with the fake theatrics deciding to push past Kamoshida toward Takamaki. Putting a hand on her shoulder to guide her away. He could feel her prickle at the sudden contact in confusion. But he kept his hand firm on her shoulder making his way to be a wall between her and Kamoshida.</p>
<p>“Hey, Takamaki, would you mind if I borrowed your notes, I’m pretty sure I missed stuff the other day. Is that alright?” Akira lightly squeezing her shoulder.</p>
<p>“Yes!” The blonde responded a little too quickly to be natural and reeled back, “Um, yeah sure no problem.”</p>
<p>Akira walked her away from the man feeling eyes on both of their backs until they turned the corner where Akira lowered his hand. The raven looked back to make sure they weren’t being followed and when he looked back toward Takamaki it looked like she wanted to punch him. He tensed waiting for some kind of connection to happen, but it never did.</p>
<p>“I shouldn’t be mad, but you scared me I’m not good at coming up with things on the spot.” She crossed her arms, “Thank you though, people usually don’t step in like that, but I guess you don’t really have anything to lose either. I have to go I’ll see you tomorrow.”</p>
<p>And with that she turned and was gone. Akira readjusted the bag on his shoulder before turning to head down the stairs. As he reached the entryway to Shujin he could smell the faint lingering of sweet citrus only increasing until Ryuji appeared to stop him from behind the gate at the last second.</p>
<p>“Yo! Sorry if I scared you.” Ryuji gave him a sly smile believing Akira had fallen into his trap.</p>
<p>“I could smell you from a mile away. I don’t think that would have been possible.” Akira teased.</p>
<p>“You sayin’ I stink?” Ryuji sized up the raven to which Akira just gave him a shrug looking away with a grin, “That’s harsh man…”</p>
<p>Ryuji rubbed the back of his neck not saying anything for a minute before letting out what he had on his mind, “I can’t atop thinkin’ about that castle. I tried tellin’ myself that it was just a dream… but I couldn’t do it. Like if that bastard Kamoshida is involved I can’t let that go ya know?”</p>
<p>“I know what you mean…” Akira stuffed his hands into his pockets, “And I’m your key in right?”</p>
<p>“Well don’t say it like that, you’re the only one I can rely on with this crap y’know. So, you in?”</p>
<p>Akira pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, “Yeah, sure why not?” He let out a light sigh.</p>
<p>“Nice! I’m glad we’re in this together dude!” Ryuji threw an arm around Akira’s shoulders beaming.</p>
<p>Akira couldn’t help but smile he’s pretty sure the joy radiating off of Ryuji was contagious. His arm was heavy and definitely from someone who was, or at least had been, athletic. Akira had never really been close to anyone before as friends or acquaintances besides a normal omega touchiness. But this wasn’t that case, Ryuji was an alpha that was being friendly with him which was a completely new experience. Though these were untested waters he felt comfortable like he had been under his arm his whole life.</p>
<p>“Alright! Let’s get down to business. We should probably retrace our steps, you’re headin’ to the station, right? I’ll join you!”</p>
<p>The blonde walked him along arm giving no indication of moving soon. He noticed that they had garnered a few looks from other students also departing for the day. Akira wasn’t bothered but he just felt like putting on his guise and poke at the soft spot.</p>
<p>“Are all alphas this handsy or is it just you?” The raven playfully teased.</p>
<p>Ryuji’s face turned red and quickly withdrew his arm, “S-sorry I didn’t mean to.”</p>
<p>“Well, I didn’t say you had to stop just making an observation.” Akira let out a small smile.</p>
<p>“O-oh um…” Ryuji fumbled for a minute not knowing what to do with his hands.</p>
<p>Akira laughed and grabbed Ryuji by the shoulders facing him forward. He lifted the blonde’s arm and walked under it, so it once again rested on his shoulders. He looked back over to Ryuji who was staring at him face still dusted pink.</p>
<p>“What? Never been close to an omega before?” Akira stuck out his tongue at the blonde.</p>
<p>“Sh-shaddup! You’re fuckin’ weird.” Ryuji wiped his nose with his opposite arm and began walking again.</p>
<p>“That should be my line! I don’t think I’ve met an alpha that was big on casual touch before.” Akira leaned forward to get a better look at Ryuji who was now making an effort to not look at him.</p>
<p>Ryuji gently put a hand on the raven’s face and pushed him back separating the two. They had made it back to the station which was a lot more crowded than the other day. Akira took his place opposite to Ryuji where they had met the other day in the rain.</p>
<p>“With a castle that big you think we would have seen it by now, right?” The blonde rubbed at the back of his neck changing the subject.</p>
<p>“We were a bit <em>distracted</em> though.” Akira played with a strand in his bangs.</p>
<p>Ryuji huffed, “<em>Distracted</em> enough to miss a giant friggin’ castle?”</p>
<p>Akira shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He could feel a Cheshire grin adorn his face and did little to stop it. Ryuji rolled his eyes at the raven haired boy and kicked what dust he could get from the pavement at him.</p>
<p>“Maybe we should just retrace our steps from yesterday.”</p>
<p>“Sounds like a good place to start. Hope this won’t take all afternoon.” Akira craned his neck back toward the school.</p>
<p>“Let’s keep our eyes peeled! Lemme know if you see anythin’ fishy.” And started their walk back on the route they took the day before.</p>
<p>It only took a few minutes to follow the path leading them right back to where they had been previously. And it led perfectly back to the school gates instead of the gaudy crimsoned castle. A look of confusion crossed the blonde’s face as he looked around and back to him.</p>
<p>“This don’t make any sense,” Ryuji ran a hand through his hair, “we came the same way… and you didn’t see anything suspicious, either right?”</p>
<p>“We could have taken a wrong turn?” Akira suggested.</p>
<p>“Maybe we should walk it again. Just to make sure ya know?”</p>
<p>They both nodded healing back to the station entrance and once again following the path through the tight alleyway. Again, they stood at the school gate now void of students who have since gone home while they investigated the route. The faux blond made a frustrated noise a bitter note in his scent.</p>
<p>“We gotta be missing something!” Ryuji leaned up against the high planter at the gate.</p>
<p>A light clicked on in Akira’s mind, “Hey, you have your phone on you?”</p>
<p>“What, you forget yours? Do you need to make a call? DO THE COPS MONITOR YOUR CALLS OR SOMETHIN’?” Ryuji asked a little too overexcitable.</p>
<p>“No, no not like that-“ Akira chuckled but paused at the look on the blonde’s face light up looking to him like he was an absolute genius.</p>
<p>“Didn’t you have some kind of navigation app? It talked to you right before those cops stopped us ‘Welcome back to the real world’ er something like that?”</p>
<p>The omega fished his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it. He handed it over to Ryuji who nearly snatched it out of his hand. The blonde swiped through his Home Screen and paused on the strange app that had appeared back on the device.</p>
<p>“What’s this eyeball thing?”</p>
<p>“Cute icon, huh?” The blonde looked at him deadpan and Akira raised his hands in surrender, “I’m not sure it kinda just appeared on my phone the day I got here. I’ve tried deleting it but it’s no use.”</p>
<p>“Hey! It is a navigation app!” Ryuji excitedly turned the screen back to him, “It even has the history!”</p>
<p>Akira stopped the boy before managing to press the destination, “Hey, is that really a good idea?”</p>
<p>“Chill dude it’s just an app!” And clicked the route keeping eye contact with him as to say that nothing bad was going to happen.</p>
<p>Akira rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly causing his bangs to shift. The phone repeated some words and paused to load before beginning the route. Akira’s ears started to ring, and he looked around at the school surroundings which made him dizzy, almost as if warping, but slow enough to set off his senses.</p>
<p>“What the hell?”</p>
<p> The blonde turned his attention back to the phone which started to develop static and glitch almost like the screen had been dropped or dunked in a cup of water. Then it recovered looking as normal as it had moments ago. But when the two looked up the immense castle standing before them, like it had always been there. But when the two looked up, there it was, there was the immense castle standing before them, like it had always been there. Ryuji pulled in a fist toward his body in celebration.</p>
<p>“Dude, there it is! I knew it wasn’t a dream!” The alpha turned to glance back at him and paused, “Whoa-“</p>
<p>            Akira lifted a hand to his face, a gloved hand meeting the smooth texture of the mask that sat on the bridge of his nose. He hadn’t had the opportunity before to actually take a look at the costume before. It definitely embodied the tall dark and handsome trope and Akira had gotten a slight boost in his confidence.</p>
<p>“What’s with that ‘fit anyway?” Ryuji tilted his head in question at Akira.</p>
<p>“Why you jelly?” The omega pulled a smirk and swore that the faux blonde started steaming.</p>
<p>“H-Ha! Me, jealous of that get up? No way…”</p>
<p>“Hey!” A high pitch voice called out to them causing the two to jump.</p>
<p>            The little cat monster from the other day peaked out from behind one of the castle pillars. It revealed itself only for a short time to make its way behind another pillar closer to the two.</p>
<p>“Why are the two of you standing out in the open? Get down!” The cat tugged at Akira’s long coattails motioning for the two to duck behind the pillar.</p>
<p>The two got down to the cat’s level, “You’re that cat from yesterday!” Ryuji pointed to have the cat swat at his hand.</p>
<p>“I’m not a cat! My name is Morgana! Mor-ga-na if you’ve forgotten already!” Morgana whisper shouted at the duo, “To think you would return after yesterday’s narrow escape…”</p>
<p>“Hey, Morgana, is this the school?” Akira inquired.</p>
<p>“That’s right.” Ryuji was about to ask a follow up before Morgana held up a paw, “Let me explain, it’s a castle because the ruler of this place sees the school as his castle! Kamoshida I think you mentioned? It’s a source of his distorted desires.”</p>
<p>Ryuji looked down at his shoes in thought after Morgana’s vague explanation. His jaw was clenched and scent prickled in a mix of anger and annoyance. But underneath that Akira could still pick up the faint smell of a bitter sadness. The blonde chewed on the inside of his cheek and Akira lightly punched him in the shoulder.</p>
<p>“Don’t do that it’s bad for you.”</p>
<p>The alpha sighed and looked up the the expanse building, “Distorted desires, huh? How do we even know if you’re telling the truth about all this?”</p>
<p>“I agree, almost none of what you said made sense. Then again a place like this shouldn’t exist either…” The raven adjusted his leather glove becoming more aware of the new outfit.</p>
<p>A scream echoed through the area coming from the castle. The three looked up then back toward each other eyes wide. Morgana motioned to follow further away from the doors toward the vent they escaped through the day previous.</p>
<p>”What was that?!” Ryuji shouted.</p>
<p>“Keep your voice down! It’s probably the other slaves within the castle. It’s like that every day here, but you both escaped and Kamoshida wasn’t too happy about that. He probably has ordered to have it taken out on the others.”</p>
<p>“The guys we saw the other day were from our school. He just decided that they were beneath him.” Ryuji smashed a shoulder against the doors, “That son of a bitch. We gotta help them somehow, right?”</p>
<p>Akira could see the passion burning in the blonde and had to admit he had some solid resolve, “Right! Morgana can you help us?” He got down to the cats level to look him straight on.</p>
<p>Morgana let out a sly laugh, “Of course I can! But you gotta show me what kind of power you have under that mask of yours.”</p>
<p>Akira nodded and Morgana mewled in delight and climbed into the vent with one swift motion. He looked back down at the two who hadn’t yet moved from their spots below him. Morgana motioned to climb up and follow him before disappearing deeper into the vent.</p>
<p>“I guess that’s our entrance…”</p>
<p>Before Akira could move to get his footing up into the vent a heavy hand rested on his shoulder, “Thanks, dude, you didn’t have to come n’ help me do this.” Ryuji have him a crooked smile.</p>
<p>“Of course, it wouldn’t be right to just leave this alone.” Akira looked down for a moment and turned back up the charm, “Plus, can’t trust the only person in the school who knows my secret to just bite his tongue. He seems to be pretty bad at it.”</p>
<p>“Huh?!” The alpha wore a dumbfounded look on his face.</p>
<p>“Yup, gotta keep a close eye on him! He looks like he needs someone to look after him.”</p>
<p>Akira climbed up into the vent after Morgana leaving Ryuji there to process his teasing words. The omega could hear the other start to stutter and shout after him noisily making his way into the vent. Akira chuckled at how easily flustered he could make the blonde before finding his way out of the shaft. Morgana was now back in view crouched at the doorway peering out into the hall.</p>
<p>“I do not need watching, Mr. Criminal!” The blonde shouted in a hushed tone.</p>
<p>“Ouch, that one hurt.” The sides of Akira’s mouth tugged up into a smile.</p>
<p>“Would you two hush!” Morgana loudly whispered at the two, “We’re all clear let’s get going before anyone comes.”</p>
<p>The trio started descending the long stone staircases back toward the dungeon. The screams becoming more apparent as they got closer to their destination. Morgana stumbled when reaching a corner and held up a small paw for them to stop. A guard was patrolling a walkway they needed to cross and there was no other way around.</p>
<p>“Looks like we will be fighting from here on out,” Morgana turned to the boys, “ambushing is optimal in battle.”</p>
<p>“This ain’t no video game though!” Ryuji placed a hand on his neck.</p>
<p>“No, but the strategy is the same. You wouldn’t want to be caught off guard in any instance including this one.” Morgana turned to look at Akira, “It’s too dangerous for blondie to fight shadows so we’re the backbone!”</p>
<p>Akira nodded and took cover behind a crate in the path and easily did a flip onto the knight’s shoulders. The omega was able to get a grip underneath the mask and tore it off with as much force as he could. Morgana quickly joined his side for the fight quickly clearing away the enemies before any other patrol could notice them.</p>
<p>“Dude, that was awesome!” The blonde came out from hiding and gave him a hard smack between his shoulder blades, “You an Olympian or something? You sure don’t look like you can do all those fancy moves.”</p>
<p>Akira shook his head. To be honest with this mornings performance in front of Yoshizawa he wasn’t sure how he did it either. The shine and awe in Ryuji’s eyes and his happy scent gave him away. He was sure that if he had a tail it would be wagging too. The alpha was an open book and sure did nothing to hide how he was feeling. The raven felt some fond warmth at the pit of his stomach.</p>
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